B.C. health officials reported 161 new cases of COVID-19 in the province on Friday. However, none of the new cases are in Island Health.
This is the second-highest number of daily COVID-19 cases B.C. has recorded in a 24 hour period since the start of the pandemic. The highest number of daily cases is 165, reported on Sept. 17.
Three more COVID-19 deaths were also reported in B.C. over the last 24 hours, bringing B.C.’s COVID-19 death toll to 238.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, and Stephen Brown, deputy minister of health, issued Friday’s numbers in a joint statement.
Two 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.
B.C. has now had a total of 9,381 cases since the pandemic began.
There are 1,302 active cases of COVID-19 in the province (up 41 from Oct.1), 3,114 people who are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases (up 21 from Oct.1) and 7,813 people who tested positive have recovered.
Sixty-three people are hospitalized with COVID-19 (down six from Oct. 1), 16 of whom are in intensive care (down three from Oct. 1).
Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 3,440 cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 4,791 in the Fraser Health region, 209 in the Island Health region, 535 in the Interior Health region, 318 in the Northern Health region and 88 cases of people who reside outside of Canada.
There has been one new health-care facility outbreak at Surrey Memorial Hospital and the outbreaks at Yaletown House and Peach Arch Hospital have been declared over. In total, 14 long-term care or assisted-living facilities and three acute-care facilities have active outbreaks. They are:
- Banfield Pavilion long-term care facility in Vancouver Coastal Health
- Haro Park Centre long-term care facility (second occurrence) in Vancouver Coastal Health
- Holy Family Hospital long-term care facility (second occurrence) in Vancouver Coastal Health
- Point Grey Private Hospital long-term care facility in Vancouver Coastal Health
- Cherington Place long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- Evergreen Hamlets long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- George Derby Centre long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- Harrison West at Elim Village long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- Kin Village assisted-living facility in Fraser Health
- Milieu Children and Family Services Society community-living facility in Fraser Health
- New Vista Care Home long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- Rideau Retirement Centre independent-living facility in Fraser Health
- Thornebridge Gardens assisted-living facility in Fraser Health
- Peace Portal Seniors Village long-term care facility in Fraser Health
There are no new community or school outbreaks reported.
“For many months now, COVID-19 has been a part of our communities. As a result, we have had to adapt and learn new ways to protect ourselves and each other,” Henry and Brown said in Friday’s statement.
“Despite the uncertainty and stress that has come with this, there is much that is in our control. Take confidence in knowing that always using our layers of protection reduces our risks, helps to break the chains of transmission and keeps the virus under control.
“We are all facing the same obstacle. With kindness and compassion to friends and neighbours, and steadfast commitment to doing the right thing, we will get through this together.”
Island Health
Island Health has four active cases: three on southern Vancouver Island and one on central Vancouver Island. There has been no change in active cases over the last 24 hours.
There are no COVID-19 hospitalizations in Island Health and 199 people have recovered. A total of 1,037 COVID-19 tests were done in Island Health over 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 numbers on Oct. 2, 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. Island Health has not posted any school exposures to date.
B.C. has posted detailed information about the geographic distribution of COVID-19 cases from January to August 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 August 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.
The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 4:19 p.m. PDT on Oct. 2, 2020:
There are 162,666 confirmed cases in Canada (7 presumptive, 162,659 confirmed including 9,409 deaths, 137,613 resolved)
- Quebec: 76,273 confirmed (including 5,857 deaths, 63,683 resolved)
- Ontario: 52,980 confirmed (including 2,927 deaths, 44,850 resolved)
- Alberta: 18,357 confirmed (including 272 deaths, 16,527 resolved)
- British Columbia: 9,381 confirmed (including 238 deaths, 7,813 resolved)
- Manitoba: 2,072 confirmed (including 21 deaths, 1,399 resolved)
- Saskatchewan: 1,940 confirmed (including 24 deaths, 1,769 resolved)
- Nova Scotia: 1,089 confirmed (including 65 deaths, 1,021 resolved)
- Newfoundland and Labrador: 275 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 269 resolved)
- New Brunswick: 200 confirmed (including 2 deaths, 192 resolved)
- Prince Edward Island: 59 confirmed (including 57 resolved)
- Yukon: 15 confirmed (including 15 resolved)
- Repatriated Canadians: 13 confirmed (including 13 resolved)
- Nunavut: No confirmed cases, 7 presumptive
- Northwest Territories: 5 confirmed (including 5 resolved)
According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Medicine, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide is more than 34.4 million. There have been more than one million deaths recorded.
With files from The Canadian Press
Alexa Huffman
