Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, and Minister of Health Adrian Dix say there are 22 new cases of COVID-19 in B.C.
None of the new cases are in Island Health, where the total number of cases since the pandemic began remains at 127. Of those, 121 have recovered.
There have now been 2,623 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in B.C. Of those, 214 are active and 2,243 people have recovered.
Thirty-two people are hospitalized (one more than June 2), seven of whom are in intensive care (one fewer than June 2).
One more death has been reported in the Fraser Health region, bringing B.C.’s COVID-19 death toll to 166.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been 905 cases in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 1,332 in the Fraser Health region, 127 in the Island Health region, 195 in the Interior Health region and 64 in the Northern Health region.
here have been no new health-care facility outbreaks and two outbreaks have now been declared over at Cottage-Worthington Pavilion and The Cedars in Mission.
Six long-term care or assisted-living facilities continue to have active outbreaks. And there are seven ongoing community outbreaks.
Henry and Dix provided Wednesday’s numbers in a written statement. The two are scheduled to give an update on the province’s COVID-19 modelling during Thursday’s press conference.
Earlier Wednesday, Premier John Horgan asked protesters in the province to make sure they take precautions due to the ongoing pandemic.
Henry and Dix said in their statement Wednesday that racialized communities face obstacles others do not and they have seen British Columbians “proudly stand up and speak out against racism.”
Henry and Dix said exercising the right to peaceful demonstration is extremely important and “equally important is keeping our communities, loved ones and friends safe during this pandemic.”
“Whether going to the grocery store, seeing friends on a patio or attending a peaceful demonstration, the same rules for safe physical distancing apply,” Henry and Dix wrote.
“Be mindful of the risks you are taking and continue to follow the provincial health officer’s order to limit gatherings to no more than 50 people.
“Consider alternative ways to peacefully demonstrate, as we have seen elsewhere. Gather in smaller numbers in multiple locations, maintain a safe physical distance from those around you and use a non-medical cloth mask for the brief periods when in closer contact to others.
Let’s stand united across our province, our nation and around the world. Let’s continue to work together and learn from others to keep our firewall strong and importantly, use this time to spread the message of respect and tolerance rather than spreading the virus.”
READ MORE: Black and POC youth set up people-less protest in Centennial Square in Victoria
To see a breakdown of B.C.’s COVID-19 numbers by day and testing numbers, visit the BC COVID-19 Dashboard.
According to researchers with Johns Hopkins University and Medicine, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases is more than 6.3 million, with more than 383,000 deaths.
Alexa Huffman
