news // no. 4 theotherpress.ca Canada calm over coronavirus concerns » Public Health Agency of Canada deems Canadian risk low Atiba Nelson Staff Reporter s the World Health Organization (WHO) convenes an emergency committee on novel coronavirus (2019- nCoV), the Public Health Agency of Canada has deemed the public health risk associated with the new virus low risk to Canadians. As of January 23, the World Health Organization has reported that 1,320 confirmed cases have been detected—with the majority identified in China—and twenty three confirmed cases reported in nine other countries outside of China. On January 27, the first confirmed case of coronavirus in Canada was confirmed in Toronto. The Washington State Department of Health alerted the Centre for Disease Control that they had a confirmed travel-case of 2019 Novel Coronavirus on January 21, 2012—the first case in the United States. A second case was later reported on January 24. 2019-nCoV started in Wuhan, and was identified as the cause of an atypical pneumonia in a cluster of patients that had respiratory illness symptoms. Initially, all patients had links to a market in Wuhan where seafood and live animals were sold, suggesting an animal-to-human (or zoonotic) spread. However, as new cases were detected and not linked to the market in Wuhan, plus the geographical spread of cases occurred in other Asian countries, such as Japan and Thailand, and now it is reported that there is evidence that human-to-human transmission is occurring. Though the ease and extend that human-to- human spread is possible has not been concluded. The consideration of human-to-human spread is important as people travel throughout Asia for Chinese New Year celebrations. Additionally, person-to-person transmission increases the chance that the virus may be imported to Canada. Recently, Canada enhanced airport measures to prevent the importation of zo19-nCoV into the country. Canadian Border Services has added an additional health screening question to the electronic immigration control kiosks and implemented messaging at Canadian international airports asking travellers to report any flu- like symptoms to border officers. Locally, Fraser Health—the Health Authority charged with public health in the region—has set up an informational webpage regarding the novel coronavirus on their homepage. The WHO continues to update national health organizations, such as the Public Health Agency of Canada, daily; however, WHO capacity may be strained as the international health organization attempts to garner attention, support, and funds to combat the world’s worst measles epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo—which has resulted in more than 6,000 deaths in the African country. The Other Archive: Douglas enrollment at an all-time high » Admissions up 17 percent from 2009 Dylan Hackett News Editor (2012) Published on September u, 2012. As per our feature and the anniversary celebrations this week, this issue is going to be about Douglas College. This Other Press News article back from 2012 I think really gives some perspective on why so many still choose people come to this college. It's been eight years since this article was written and the college’s student population has continued to thrive. It’s fun to think about how far this school has come and appreciate the opportunity to learn here. If Douglas werent here, where would we all be? his fall semester, for the third year in arow, Douglas College has reached an all-time high in admissions with over 11,000 students registered for courses. The increase in enrollment is a continuation of the upward trend since 2009. “The growing popularity of Douglas doesn’t come as a surprise,” says Scott McAlpine, president of Douglas College. “More and more people are choosing Douglas based on the strength of our academic and career-based programs, and the quality of our teaching.” Douglas has been expanding its course and program roster to accommodate the flux of students with new programs beginning this fall. Among them are two new post- degree programs in sales and accounting. Douglas also partnered with Langara, Capilano, and Vancouver Community College in May to offer a Bachelor of Performing Arts degree. Some programs, like the ever-popular nursing program, can’t keep up with the demand of applicants flooding the admissions offices. “We have some areas [of study] that are very oversubscribed, “said Dave Taylor, Director of Marketing and Communications at Douglas. “Nursing, for example, received over 1,000 applications this year but only 65 seats open every year.” The rise in admissions is not exclusive to Douglas College either, with urban post- secondary institutions seeing increased registrations across the board—a pattern stemming from the uncertainty in job ee ee et Lay Peake a = markets. “Whenever the economy is slow, people look at spending their time, instead of looking for a job that might be hard to come by, getting an education to prepare themselves better for when things pick up,” said Taylor. “At times like this you see people coming back to college and university for extra training as well because there are fewer opportunities for advancement.” Not all of the gains in enrollment can be accredited to the economic climate, however. “There are long-term statistics that seem to show that people are seeing the advantages of becoming more educated to further their career options,’ claimed Taylor. Photo by Billy Bui Part of the increase in enrollment can also be accredited to the ever- expanding population of international students at Douglas. This year saw a 10 per cent increase in international student registration—totalling Douglas’ international student population to over 1,100. “Our international focus is on both receiving and sending,” explained Taylor. “We want our students to have an international experience and become global citizens. It’s a very important part of life in the 21st century, frankly. We're always looking to expand our international opportunities for domestic students, as well as looking at new countries that might want to send international students to Douglas.”