B.C. reported 203 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, its highest daily increase in coronavirus cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
Three of the new cases are epidemiologically-linked, 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.
There were no new cases reported in Island Health in the last 24 hours.
Two new COVID-19 deaths were also reported on Wednesday, bringing the province’s death toll to 256.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, and Stephen Brown, deputy minister of health, released Wednesday’s numbers in a statement.
B.C. has now had a total of 12,057 cases since the start of the pandemic, including 244 in the Island Health region, 4,215 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 6,517 in the Fraser Health region, 632 in the Interior Health region, 361 in the Northern Health region and 88 cases of people who reside outside of Canada (visitors and temporary foreign workers).
There are 1,766 active cases of COVID-19 in the province (78 more than Oct. 20), 4,294 people who are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases (138 more than Oct. 20), and 9,993 people who tested positive have recovered.
Seventy people are hospitalized with COVID-19 (0ne more than Oct. 20), 21 of whom are in intensive care (three more than Oct. 20).
There has been one new outbreak at École de l’Anse-au-sable school in Kelowna with three members of the school community confirmed positive for COVID-19. Public health teams have directed a further approximately 160 members of the school community to self-isolate for 14 days and monitor for symptoms. Interior Health will be providing updates.
There have been three new health-care facility outbreaks at Three Links Care Centre, Fort Langley Seniors Community and Baillie House. The outbreaks at Harrison West at Elim Village and White Rock Seniors Village have been declared over. In total, 18 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
- 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
- Three Links Care Centre long-term care facility in Vancouver Coastal Health
- Weinberg Residence long-term care facility in Vancouver Coastal Health
- Baillie House long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- Chartwell Carrington House assisted and independent living facility in Fraser Health
- Evergreen Baptist Care Society long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- Fort Langley Seniors Community long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- Good Samaritan Delta View Care Centre long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- Good Samaritan Victoria Heights assisted-living facility 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 and long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- Sunset Manor assisted-living facility in Fraser Health
- The Village assisted-living and long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- Thornebridge Gardens assisted-living facility in Fraser Health
- Zion Park Manor long-term care facility in Fraser Health
“Many of the new cases and recent community clusters of COVID-19 are directly connected to weddings, funerals and celebrations of lifetimes when we traditionally gather with family and friends,” Henry and Brown said in Wednesday’s statement.
“With COVID-19 still in our communities, we have seen that even small gatherings are risky right now. Inside or outside, large space or small, the fewer the faces the better.
“A wedding is meant to be a time of celebration, yet weddings and other important life occasions are a significant source of community transmission; transmission that has spread to health-care facilities, workplaces and schools.
“Now is the time to keep these celebrations small and to plan for bigger family gatherings at a time when we are no longer putting our seniors, elders and others at risk.”
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 41 million. More than 1.1 million deaths have been reported.
Alexa Huffman
