“Our recent daily cases are higher than many of us are comfortable with”

ADRIAN Dix, Minister of Health, and Dr. Bonnie Henry, Provincial Health Officer, on Tuesday announced 58 new cases, including one epi-linked case since they reported on Monday, of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), for a total of 5,242 cases in British Columbia.

There was no new COVID-19-related death and the total number of deaths remains at 203 deaths in the province.

There are 925 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, 2,675 people who are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases, and 4,114 people who tested positive have recovered.

Currently, 22 individuals are hospitalized with COVID-19, seven of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 1,683 cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 2,762 in the Fraser Health region, 168 in the Island Health region, 425 in the Interior Health region, 128 in the Northern Health region and 76 cases of people who reside outside of Canada.

There have been two new health-care facility outbreaks, one at Bear Creek Villa and one at Langley Memorial Hospital, both located in the Fraser Health region. In total, 10 long-term care or assisted-living facilities and two acute-care facilities have active outbreaks.

There are no new community outbreaks, and the outbreak at Fraser Valley Packers Inc. is now over. However, there continue to be community exposure events at other locations and on flights into and out of the province.

Alerts are posted on the BC Centre for Disease Control’s (BCCDC) website, as well as on health authorities’ websites, providing details on where the potential exposure occurred and what actions to take – whether you need to self-isolate or monitor for symptoms.

Dix and Henry added: “We know that COVID-19 is going to be with us for many months to come. As a result, unlike other viruses that have a vaccine, our focus is to keep new cases low and slow, and quickly contain new outbreaks as they occur.

“Our recent daily cases are higher than many of us are comfortable with, so let’s continue to do our part every moment of every day and keep COVID-19 where it needs to be.

“While we would all like to get to zero, we need to rather focus on prevention, detection and rapid response.

“Living with COVID-19 in our communities also means being unrelenting in our commitment to support and care for each other; to reach out to our vulnerable neighbours, friends and family members.

“Many people have lost fathers and mothers, sons and daughters directly to the illness. For others, as evidenced by the latest BC Coroner’s Service report on illicit drug deaths, an existing crisis has worsened as a result of the pandemic. Our thoughts and condolences also go out to the families and communities of the 175 people we lost to the toxic street drug supply in July.

“We know where the risks are and who is most vulnerable, which means we can put the right precautions in place based on the location, risk of transmission and potential severity of illness.

“We have adapted our personal activities and our businesses, because we now understand what we need to do to keep ourselves and those around us safe.

“Let’s stay committed to doing our part, to care and protect our most vulnerable and show kindness and compassion to everyone.”