Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Monday that the province is in the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic as B.C. health officials reported 499 new cases of COVID-19 over the weekend, including three new cases in Island Health.
“The reality is that we are seeing increase number of cases. We’ve also seen increase hospitalizations, they’ve levelled off,” Henry said Monday.
She also noted the province is encouragingly not seeing exponential growth and instead is experiencing more manageable ongoing growth.
“Here in B.C. we’ve managed to relatively control our community spread,” she said.
She is once again reminding people that they can help control the trajectory of the outbreak by keeping social interactions low so schools and scheduled surgeries can continue.
From Friday to Saturday, there were 172 new cases. From Saturday to Sunday, there were 153 new cases. From Sunday to Monday, there were 174 new cases.
The last time a daily record was set was 170 new cases from Friday to Saturday of the Thanksgiving long weekend.
Seven 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.
Two more COVID-19 deaths were reported over the weekend: one in Fraser Health and one in Vancouver Coastal Health. The province’s COVID-19 death toll is now 253.
B.C. has now had a total of 11,687 cases since the start of the pandemic: 243 in Island Health, 4,146 in Vancouver Coastal Health, 6,244 in Fraser Health, 611 in Interior Health, 355 in Northern Health and 88 among residents outside of Canada (visitors and temporary foreign workers). That number among those residents dropped by one due to a data correction.
There are 1,639 active cases in B.C. (126 more than Oct. 16). Sixty-seven people are in hospital with COVID-19 (five fewer than Oct. 16), with 19 in intensive care (seven fewer than Oct.16).
A total of 4,028 people who are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases (315 more than Oct. 16) and 9.753 people have recovered.
There are four new healthcare outbreaks and one new community outbreak.
The new healthcare outbreaks are at Royal Arch Masonic Home, The Village in Langley, Rosemary Heights Senior Village and Zion Park Manor. The outbreaks at Banfield Pavilion and Yaletown House have been declared over.
Here are the current healthcare outbreaks:
- Haro Park Centre long-term care facility (second occurrence) in Vancouver Coastal Health
- Point Grey Private Hospital long-term care facility in Vancouver Coastal Health
- Royal Arch Masonic Home long-term care facility (second occurrence) in Vancouver Coastal Health
- Weinberg Residence long-term care facility in Vancouver Coastal Health
- Chartwell Carrington House assisted and independent living facility in Fraser Health
- Chartwell Crescent Gardens long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- George Derby Centre long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- Good Samaritan Delta View Care Centre long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- Harrison West at Elim Village long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- Langley Lodge long-term care facility (third occurrence) in Fraser Health
- Peace Portal Seniors Village long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- PICS assisted-living facility in Fraser Health
- Rosemary Heights Seniors Village independent, assisted-living and long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- The Village assisted-living and long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- Thornebridge Gardens assisted-living facility in Fraser Health
- White Rock Seniors Village long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- Zion Park Manor long-term care facility in Fraser Health
The community outbreak is at J & L Beef Ltd. in Surrey.
Island Health
There are 14 active cases in Island Health: seven in southern Vancouver Island and seven in Central Vancouver Island.
A total of 223 people have recovered from COVID-19 in Island Health. There are no COVID-19 hospitalizations in Island Health at this time.
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 Oct. 19, 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.
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 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 (CDC) here.
According to Johns Hopkins University and Medicine the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide is more than 40.2 million. More than 1.1 million deaths have been recorded.
Watch Dr. Bonnie Henry on Oct. 19, 2020 below:
With files from The Canadian Press and CBC
Alexa Huffman
