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The global as we know it is changing. All general systems of how we get our food, paint, and socialize have been disrupted due to the new coronavirus pandemic.
We want media that report not only what happens today, but also what can be imagined tomorrow. Since 2003, The Tyee has been reporting in depth, featuring voices that don’t appear regularly in the media, and providing imaginable answers to our most pressing issues.
Tyee’s reports sparked local food movements, superseded the legislation, and mandatory talks began. As our society adjusts due to COVID-19, now is the time to communicate about ambitious solutions.
We must make these kinds of solution-based reports and make them available to everyone, because we are subsidized through a strong core of Tyee readers.
If you need more independent and solution-focused reporting, sign up for Tyee Builders today.
Jen St. Denis is a reporter on Tyee’s Downtown Eastside. Find her on Twitter @JenStDen. This speed of information is made imaginable through the Local Journalism Initiative.
Downtown Eastside residents are warned of conceivable COVID-19 exposure if they were in the West Pub between August 20-30. The pub is a component of the West Hotel, a singles hotel at 488 Carrall St.
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But a longtime advocate for the Downtown Eastside questions why the warnings are limited to notices from Vancouver Coastal Health in the bar and hotel.
The health authority hasn’t put any information about the exposure on its website, and so far there hasn’t been any media attention to the possible exposure.
Judy Graves, the City of Vancouver’s former advocate for homeless people, says people from other areas frequently visit bars in the neighbourhood and should know they may have been exposed to the virus.
“Somebody who had been sitting with the person with COVID would not have heard that they’ve been at risk,” she said. “It’s just like any other bar, any other place — people come and go.”
But Vancouver Coastal Health says it only makes public notifications “in the event of a declared outbreak” or if the health authority has not been “able to reach all close contacts and it is necessary to inform the public about a potential exposure.”
“Our public exposures page is for those cases where public health has determined there may be a risk of exposure to others but are not able to identify and contact everyone who may have been exposed directly,” Carrie Stefenson, public affairs leader with Vancouver Coastal, told The Tyee via email.
Vancouver Coastal’s public exposures page currently lists a number of bars in downtown Vancouver, a mixed martial arts studio and Wreck Beach.
B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Tuesday that bars and parties have been a source of virus transmission as COVID-19 cases increased in the province. She announced that nightclubs and banquet halls will be ordered to close and bars will have to stop serving liquor at 10 p.m. and close at 11 p.m.
While there were fears that COVID-19 could be devastating in the Downtown Eastside because so many residents live with serious health conditions, so far there have been few individual cases and no outbreaks.
Wendy Pedersen, a tenant organizer who has advocated for people living in SROs, said that when she completed a survey of the West Hotel’s residents in 2015, most listed numerous health conditions. “I’ve never seen such a list,” she said.
Graves said many of the tenants of the West frequently visit the pub, describing the bar as “their living room and their community centre.”
Vancouver Coastal’s Stefenson declined to say whether all tenants in the SRO have been or will be tested, saying the health authority does not comment on specific cases.
In the notice posted on the West’s window, Vancouver Coastal Health says that anyone who visited the bar between Aug. 20 and 30 may have been exposed to the virus, but that does not mean they are sick with COVID-19.
The health authority says people who were in the bar during those days should monitor their health for symptoms such as shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, fever or chills, a cough, sore throat, loss of taste and smell, diarrhea, nausea or vomiting, headache, fatigue or muscle aches.
The health authority says that if you develop new symptoms, you should be tested for COVID-19.
In the Downtown Eastside, testing is available at the 429 Alexander St. testing site, open Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Read more: Coronavirus
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