Retired Medical Health Office questions system

PRINCE GEORGE – A retired Northern BC Medical Health Officer feels the Provincial Health Authority needs to treat public notification of COVID-19 in this region differently.

Northern Health is roughly the size of France and Dr. David Bowering says handing out information without specifics is not helpful to people.

“Based on my past experience in Northern Health, when we have outbreaks of communicable disease, they tend to pop up here in one place or another and because of the size of our health region, giving us overall information for it doesn’t really help us with responding. And it is really urgent that we do respond,” says Dr. Bowering.

He was the Chief Medical Officer during the H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009 and was a key player in the health authority’s pandemic planning procedures.