Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, and Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, say there are 16 new cases of COVID-19 in the province as of Friday.
None of the new cases are in Island Health, which has had a total of 130 cases since the pandemic began.
There have now been a total of 2,709 cases in British Columbia. There is one new COVID-19 related death in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, for a total of 168 deaths in the province.
There are 187 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 2,354 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the total COVID-19 cases, 12 individuals are hospitalized (down one from June 11), three of whom are in intensive care.
Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 922 cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 1,396 in the Fraser Health region, 130 in the Island Health region, 196 in the Interior Health region and 65 in the Northern Health region. This includes a data correction of one less case in the Northern Health region.
There have been no new health-care facility outbreaks. In total, five long-term care or assisted-living facilities continue to have active outbreaks.
There have been no new community outbreaks and public health teams continue to provide support for the six ongoing community outbreaks.
Dix and Henry released Friday’s numbers in a statement. In the statement, they also reminded people about the amended provincial health officer order for food and liquor service establishments. More information is on the WorkSafeBC website.
“The requirements for this sector have been adjusted in response to small clusters of new cases in businesses, as employees spend more time together and in recognition that a safe number of patrons is highly dependent on the amount of space within each location, not the restaurant capacity,” Henry and Dix wrote.
“We all want to stay safe and we all have a role to play. The decisions we make and the actions we take will protect our communities and allow us to continue to progress.”
Earlier Friday, BC Hydro says residents across the province have changed their use of electricity as thousands work from home and maintain physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Crown utility says, without the daily commute or the need to spruce up for the office, people are sleeping in, eating breakfast later and showering less.
In addition, they are cooking and baking more, eating dinner earlier, watching more television, streaming additional shows, and going to bed later.
Hydro says, overall, power consumption hasn’t changed but weekday electricity use looks more like a weekend pattern — as habits shift and homebound workers act as if it’s Saturday every day.
To see a breakdown of B.C.’s COVID-19 numbers by day, visit the BC COVID-19 dashboard.
According to researchers with Johns Hopkins University and Medicine, the number of COVID-19 cases globally is now more than 7.5 million, with more than 723,000 deaths.
Alexa Huffman
