“We are watching the cases climb, which is concerning”

HEALTH Minister Adrian Dix and Provincial Heakth Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry on Wednesday announced 85 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), including two new epidemiologically linked cases, for a total of 4,196 cases in British Columbia.

There was one new COVID-19-related death, and the total number of deaths now stands at 196 deaths in the province.

There are 531 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 3,469 people who tested positive have recovered.

Currently, eight individuals are hospitalized with COVID-19, five 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 1,273 cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 2,203 in the Fraser Health region, 150 in the Island Health region, 394 in the Interior Health region, 104 in the Northern Health region and 72 cases of people who reside outside of Canada.

There have been no new health-care facility outbreaks in the region. In total, seven long-term care or assisted-living facilities and one acute-care facility have active outbreaks.

There are no new community outbreaks. However, there continue to be community exposure events everywhere in the province and on flights into and out of British Columbia.

Alerts are posted on the BC Centre for Disease Control’s 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 immediately self-isolate or monitor for symptoms.

Dix and Henry added: “The pandemic is an unprecedented challenge for our province. And today we are reporting the third highest number of new cases we have seen in a day since the pandemic began. The majority of these cases are young people in the Lower Mainland and their exposures have been at events in the community. The cases we are seeing today reflect exposures from a week to 10 days ago. A significant number of cases are also linked to travel from out of province.

“We need to refocus on measures to flatten the curve of infection and protect British Columbians as we help our province recover. One of the most effective ways to keep people safe is through contact tracing, which starts with each person who has tested positive for COVID-19 understanding who their contacts may be to provide appropriate follow up and stop further transmission.

“To support the public health teams who are doing this important work, the Province is hiring approximately 500 new health professionals to bolster our contact tracing capacity across British Columbia.

“We are watching the cases climb, which is concerning. We need everyone to recommit to using the skills we’ve learned. Keep gatherings small, have a designated ‘contact keeper,’ limit time with others, maintain physical distance and always stay home if you’re feeling unwell.

“We must all keep working together to protect people’s health, homes and livelihoods, and to get our province back on track. We are all in this together, so let’s continue holding the line.”