A group of medical experts based in British Columbia recently gathered to establish Protect Our Province BC (PoP BC), a COVID-19 response campaign aimed to provide the public with science-based guidance on fighting the pandemic.
Interestingly, one of PoP BC’s platforms in spreading its message is by conducting public briefings. Its first briefing was conducted on October 20, with family physician Dr. Amy Tan taking on the lead facilitator role.
Co-founder of PoP BC, Dr. Karina Zeidler, related in a statement that the campaign was set up to fill in the COVID-19 gaps that BC health officials seem to disregard, like the aerosol transmission of the virus. “We are concerned that the key recommendation of the SARS inquiries has been forgotten: governments must adopt the ‘precautionary principle’ when faced with novel infectious agents,” she pointed out. Zeidler also added that there is “a critical need for an unfiltered, honest assessment of the state of the pandemic in BC.”
Jennifer Heighton, PoP BC co-founder and education advocate, shared that BC residents are “not receiving science-based guidance on many issues like airborne spread, high-quality masks, ventilation, and rapid testing.” She explained that “we are now 20 months into the pandemic, and our government continues to downplay and ignore important scientific evidence.”
PoP BC is set to conduct more public briefings in the next few weeks, focusing on a variety of COVID-19 related topics and an analysis of the state of the pandemic in the province.
Apart from health professionals, PoP BC is also composed of community organizers, policy analysts, and scientists looking to relay science-backed information to the public on how to get them on the right track regarding the prevention of COVID-19 infection. A few of the personalities affiliated with PoP BC include Professional Safety and Risk Management Engineer Michelle Naef and Infectious Diseases Physician Dr. Victor Leung.
