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In B.C., in the past days those numbers have increased, but not quickly, which is a good sign, said Coombs, who is working on modelling of the spread of the virus with other researchers in B.C. On Thursday, hospitalizations for COVID-19 increased by seven to 149 in B.C., with one more patient in intensive care for a total of 68.

If B.C. is successful in the next two “critical” weeks, said Coombs, then health authorities could begin to think about whether suppression measures might be lifted, and which ones, such as who goes back to work.

However, there is also a concern there could be a rebound — or a second wave of infections — if suppression measures are lifted to soon or quickly.

Simon Fraser University professor Caroline Colijn, who is also working on modelling of the virus, said it’s hard to say what happens next if the distancing measures are shown to be working.

Photo by Jason Payne / PNG

“It’s not going to be, ‘OK, we did it, it’s done,’ because if we stop distancing, we’ll see cases rise again and we’ll be back to square one,” she said.

In South Korea, which has been praised for getting the virus spread under control, it was managed that in part by monitoring infected people through an application on their mobile phones.

Coombs said the idea is interesting, but measures that track people using their phones may not be palatable in Canada because of privacy expectations.

Nevertheless, B.C. is buying itself time, said Coombs, for example, to develop treatments to help fight the illness.

These are no vaccines but testing of treatments such as those being worked on by an international team led by the University of B.C., which said Thursday it has found a trial drug that effectively blocks the cellular door that the coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, uses to infect its hosts.

ghoekstra@postmedia.com

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