B.C. reports 299 new cases of COVID-19, including 5 in Island Health

B.C. reports 299 new cases of COVID-19, including 5 in Island Health
File photo/Province of BC
Deputy Provincial Health Officer Dr. Réka Gustafson provides an update on novel coronavirus (COVID-19) on August 17, 2020.

B.C. health officials say there are 299 new cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, including five new cases in Island Health.

Four of the new cases 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.

Three new COVID-19 deaths were reported over the last 24 hours, bringing B.C.’s COVID-19 death toll to 272.

Dr. Réka Gustafson, B.C.’s deputy provincial health officer, and Adrian Dix, B.C.’s Minister of Health, released Tuesday’s numbers in a joint statement.

B.C. has now had a total of 15,800 cases since the start of the pandemic, including 270 in the Island Health region (five more the total on Nov. 2), 4,993 Vancouver Coastal Health region (95 more than the total on Nov. 2), 9,234 in the Fraser Health region (185 more than the total on Nov. 2), 788 in the Interior Health region (11 more than the total on Nov. 2), 425 in the Northern Health region (three more than the total on Nov. 2) and 90 cases of people who reside outside of Canada (visitors and temporary foreign workers).

There are 3,017 active cases of COVID-19 in the province (72 more than Nov. 2 and a record high), 6,888 people who are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases (440 more than Nov. 2) and 12,430 people who tested positive have recovered.

Ninety-two people hospitalized with COVID-19 in B.C. (two more than Nov. 2), 22 of whom are in intensive care (three more than Nov. 2).

There has been one new health-care facility outbreak at Belvedere Care Centre. In total, 27 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 and 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
  • Belvedere Care Centre 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 Centre 2 long-term care facility in Fraser Health
  • Rotary Manor Dawson Creek in Northern Health

There has been one new community outbreak at Capella Dance Academy in Chilliwack.

B.C. has done 4,848 tests in the last 24 hours. The province’s testing rate is 121,620 per one million.

“Our goal for the COVID-19 pandemic is to continue to minimize severe illness, death and social disruption in our communities. The more we learn about the virus, the better we are able to manage all three of these important objectives,” Gustafson and Dix said in Tuesday’s statement.

“As part of this, we all need to understand the risks in our local communities and adjust our activities if that risk increases.

“Today, much of the recent transmission is connected to social gatherings. That is why it is so important to keep our groups small.

“This is particularly important in the Fraser Health region where public health teams are asking everyone to avoid all social gatherings in your home right now – even those that are within the restrictions of the provincial health officer order.

“Keeping our communities well means keeping them safe. It is about ensuring we have capacity within our health-care system, protecting those who are most vulnerable and continuing what’s important to our well-being in safe, responsible ways.”

Island Health

There are 18 active cases in Island Health: six in southern Vancouver Island, six in central Vancouver Island and six in northern Vancouver Island.

There are no COVID-19 hospitalizations in Island Health and 246 people have recovered. A total of 552 COVID-19 tests have been done in the health authority in the last 24 hours.

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 cases on Nov. 3, 2020 (Island Health)

Island Health’s COVID-19 cases on Nov. 3, 2020 (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)

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 47.2 million. More than 1.2 million deaths have been reported.

Alexa HuffmanAlexa Huffman

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