Local doctors express gratitude for community vigilance in the midst of COVID-19

As the situation appears to improve, the public is being asked to remain vigilant to prevent a resurgence of new cases.

“We know what we need to do, so wake up, and we may have to do it again,” Dr. Bantock said.

Bantock says the medical community is very much aware that there could be a second wave of COVID-19. Up to this point, Kamloops has fared well through the pandemic, with relatively few known cases.

“The medical staff and Health Authority did some marvelous things in our community in case we had a much worse outcome than we did,” he said, “but we still have to continue down that line.”

Bantock, himself, had one of the earliest confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Interior Health.

“I came to work on a Wednesday, I had a little bit of a dry cough, I didn’t really worry much about it,” he explained. “Then, during that morning I felt a little cold and then at lunch time I felt really really hot, I took my temperature, it was 39.9 C, and I thought, ‘Oh dear.’ We knew COVID was likely to be around.”

Bantock immediately cancelled the rest of his in-person appointments and isolated at his home.

“I just went straight to telehealth from my bed actually, because it’s hard as you know, there’s a doctor shortage.”

None of the patients he had seen prior to his isolation are known to have contracted COVID-19.

There are still many unknowns about COVID-19, such as whether Dr. Bantock could now be immune to the illness.

“Most of the reports that have said someone has acquired the infection a second time are not actually accurate when we look at it later,” explained Dr. Parfitt, a physician who specializes in infections. “So what we’re probably seeing is just that once someone acquires the infection, if we keep putting a swab in their nose, and looking for genetic material of the virus, we’ll keep finding it for weeks and weeks.”

Parfitt says community adherence to physical distancing measures has had a major impact on lowering the rate of infection.

“We can see it in the data,” she said. “If you pull up the data from BC [Centre for Disease Control], anybody can look at that data online, you’ll see there’s a big spike in cases and within a few weeks of the measures that were put in we just see a rapid fall of those cases, so there’s no question that it’s effective.”

As doctors’ offices begin to open up with enhanced safety protocols, the Thompson Region Division of Family Practice is encouraging people not to ignore non-COVID-19 related health issues.

by Jill Sperling

Local doctors express gratitude for community vigilance in the midst of COVID-19

Our Community