B.C. health officials say there were 1,120 new cases of COVID-19 over the weekend, including nine new cases in Island Health.
From Friday to Saturday, there were 352 new cases. From Saturday to Sunday, there were 389 new cases. From Sunday to Monday, there were 379 new cases.
The previous daily COVID-19 case high was 317, reached during the second to last weekend in October.
Seven of the new cases over this weekend are epidemiologically-linked, meaning people who were never tested but were presumed to have COVID-19 because they developed symptoms and were close contacts of a laboratory-confirmed case.
Six COVID-19 deaths were reported in the province over the weekend: five in Vancouver Coastal Health and one in Fraser Health. B.C.’s COVID-19 death toll is now 269.
B.C. has now had a total of 15,501 new cases since the start of the pandemic, including 265 in Island Health (nine more than Oct. 30), 4,898 in Vancouver Coastal Health (234 more than Oct. 30), 9,049 in Fraser Health (830 more than Oct. 30), 777 in Interior Health (36 more than Oct. 30), 422 in Northern Health (10 more than Oct. 30) and 90 among residents outside of Canada (visitors and temporary foreign workers).
There are currently 90 people in hospital with COVID-19 (12 more than Oct. 30), with 19 in intensive care (six fewer than Oct. 30). Fifty-three of the hospitalizations are in Fraser Health and 37 in Vancouver Coastal Health.
There are 2,945 active cases in B.C. (555 more than Oct. 30) and there are 6,448 people who are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases (445 more than Oct. 30). A total of 12,207 people have recovered in the province.
There were three new healthcare outbreaks Good Samaritan Delta View Care Centre, Hamilton Village Care Centre and Rotary Manor Dawson Creek. The outbreak at Baillie House has been declared over. In total, 26 long-term care or assisted-living facilities and two acute-care facilities have active outbreaks. They are:
- Haro Park Centre long-term care facility (second occurrence) in Vancouver Coastal Health
- Lakeview Care Centre in Vancouver Coastal Health
- Louis Brier Home & Hospital in Vancouver Coastal Health
- Royal Arch Masonic Home long-term care facility (second occurrence) in Vancouver Coastal Health
- Three Links Care Centre long-term care facility in Vancouver Coastal Health
- Banfield Pavilion – 4th Floor West long-term care facility in Vancouver Coastal Health
- Yaletown House long-term care facility in Vancouver Coastal Health
- Hamilton Village Care Centre long-term care facility in Vancouver Coastal Health
- Agassiz Seniors Community in Fraser Health
- Amenida Seniors Community in Fraser Health
- Banfield Pavilion in Fraser Health
- CareLife Fleetwood in Fraser Health
- Evergreen Baptist Care Society long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- Fair Haven Homes Burnaby Lodge in Fraser Health
- Fellburn Care Centre long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- Laurel Place long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- Hawthorne Seniors Care Community assisted living in Fraser Health
- Mayfair Terrace Retirement Residence in Fraser Health
- Peace Portal Seniors Village long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- PICS assisted-living facility (second occurrence) in Fraser Health
- Queen’s Park Care Centre in Fraser Health
- Rosemary Heights Seniors Village independent-, assisted- and long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- St. Michael’s Centre long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- The Gateway Assisted Living for Seniors in Fraser Health
* Good Samaritan Delta View Care Center 2 long-term care facility
Northern Health:
* Rotary Manor Dawson Creek
There are no new community outbreaks. The outbreak at J&L Beef in Surrey has been declared over.
Dr. Réka Gustafson, the deputy provincial health officer, and B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix presented the weekend numbers during a news conference on Monday.
“These numbers are concerning to all of us, but we have learned a lot about COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic,” Gustafson said.
According to Gustafson, the goal of public health officials will continue to be minimizing severe illness and death while keeping communities as open as possible.
She also said the vast majority of people are following safety precautions, despite images of crowds in Vancouver on Halloween night.
Gustafson noted that the province is now in the eleventh month of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We need to continue to live well and live safely. If you are a contact of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, please respond to contact tracing. Public health is here to help, not to judge,” she said.
When asked about how big of a caseload B.C. would need to see before bringing in tighter restrictions seen elsewhere, including measures like closing restaurants and mandating masks, Gustafson said the province is paying more attention to things like the ability to trace contacts and provide testing.
“At this moment, we have a concerning number of new infections, but, at the moment, the number of hospitalizations is still stable,” she said.
Dix said it’s time to turn the tide of COVID-19. He said the human desire to be together is both “one of our greatest strengths,” but can also be a major weakness during a pandemic.
“We need to turn the tide. I believe we can do that,” he said. “I ask everyone listening to us today and all the people you may talk to today to recommit to stop the spread.”
Island Health
There are 13 active cases in Island Health: four on southern Vancouver Island, four on central Vancouver Island and five on northern Vancouver Island.
There are no COVID-19 hospitalizations in Island Health and 246 people have recovered.
Southern Vancouver Island includes the Greater Victoria region, Southern Gulf Islands and the Port Renfrew area.
Central Vancouver Island includes the Cowichan Valley, Duncan, Nanaimo, Parksville, Port Alberni and Tofino areas.
Northern Vancouver Island goes from the Comox Valley to Port Hardy but also includes surrounding areas like Alert Bay and Sointula.
Island Health’s COVID-19 numbers on Nov. 2, 2020 . Photo courtesy of Island Health.
More COVID-19 information
If there is a confirmed COVID-19 case in a school, public health contacts affected school community members directly. Regional health authorities also post school notifications on their websites, providing the date and type of notification (outbreak, cluster or exposure) for impacted schools.
Island Health has one school exposure listed as of Oct. 22. The exposure is at Wood Elementary in Port Alberni on Oct. 19.
According to Island Health, if your child’s school has been notified of an exposure, no action is required unless you are contacted by Public Health or are otherwise directed by school officials.
The Island Health school site can be found here.
B.C. has posted detailed information about the geographic distribution of COVID-19 cases from January to September 2020. This map will be updated monthly, according to B.C. health officials.
Geographic distribution of COVID-19 cases in B.C. from January to September 2020 (BC CDC)
Island Health’s COVID-19 data breaks down North, Central and South Island case counts and lists the number of days since any new lab-diagnosed cases. You can find the data here along with any public exposures.
To see B.C.’s COVID-19 numbers by day and health authority, along with testing numbers, positivity rates and recoveries, visit the B.C. COVID-19 dashboard. The numbers are updated at 4:30 p.m. PT each weekday.
To see a list of all provincial public COVID-19 exposures in the province, including links to exposures listed on health authority websites, visit the B.C. Centre for Disease Control website ( BC CDC) here.
According to Johns Hopkins University and Medicine, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide is more than 46.8 million. More than 1.2 million deaths have been recorded.
Watch Dr. Réka Gustafson, the deputy provincial health officer, and B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix on Nov. 2, 2020, below:
More to come
With files from The Canadian Press and CBC
Alexa Huffman
