B.C.'s public health officer says she will name a specific community where there is a confirmed case of novel coronavirus only under exceptional circumstances.
"We will not be identifying the specific location of confirmed cases unless public health providers cannot be certain they have reached all those who need to be contacted and who therefore might be a risk to the public," Dr. Bonnie Henry said in an emailed statement in response to questions from The Citizen.
Other than for a handful of cases in the Lower Mainland, the locations where there have been cases have been narrowed to their respective health authority regions only. As of Thursday, there were 271 confirmed cases in the province of which four were in the Northern Health region.
"We want people who have symptoms to contact us, and to feel safe contacting us, knowing their privacy will be protected so the steps to protect the health and safety for all can be taken," Henry said. "This is why privacy is important to everyone. It allows public health providers to do the work they need to do to keep everybody safe."
That approach has not sat well with many, including Steve Adams.
The Vancouver resident said his 70-year-old mother still lives in Fort St. James and recently learned four people in the community took the cautious step of self-isolating after coming into contact during a wedding earlier this month in Vanderhoof with a person from Vancouver who had tested positive.
"While there is no immediate threat to the community I believe Dr. Henry and her team are doing Northern Health a disservice by not providing more precise locations to the people who are testing positive," he said in an email to the Citizen. "More precise information will allow people to understand that COVID-19 poses a bigger risk than they think."
.png;w=120;h=80;mode=crop)