British Columbia has recorded 274 new cases of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, the highest daily tally since the start of the pandemic.
The province had broken the daily case record just a day earlier with 203 new cases.
One of the new cases is epidemiologically-linked, meaning a person who was never tested but was presumed to have COVID-19 because they developed symptoms and were close contacts of a laboratory-confirmed case.
No new COVID-19 deaths were reported on Thursday in the province. B.C.’s COVID-19 death toll remains at 256.
Island Health saw five new COVID-19 cases over the last 24 hours.
B.C. has now had a total of 12,331 cases since the start of the pandemic, including 249 in Island Health, 4,260 in Vancouver Coastal Health, 6,720 in Fraser Health, 644 in Interior Health, 365 in Northern Health and 88 among people who normally reside outside of Canada (visitors and temporary foreign workers).
There has been a large increase in COVID-19 cases in Fraser Health, with 203 new cases in the region over the last 24 hours.
There are 1,920 active cases (154 more than Oct. 21) and 4,425 people who are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases (131 more than Oct. 21).
There are 71 people in hospital with COVID-19 (one more than Oct. 21), with 24 in intensive care (three more than Oct. 21).
A total of 10,114 people have recovered.
There were 10,398 tests completed in the last 24 hours. B.C.’s testing rate is 111,043 people per 1,000,000.
There are no new healthcare outbreaks and the outbreak at the Weinberg Residence long-term care facility in Vancouver Coastal Health has been declared over.
There are no new community outbreaks.
Dr. Bonnie Henry said during Thursday’s briefing she’s concerned about cases stemming from social gatherings, which are spilling over to other parts of the community.
She also said contract tracers have found some people are not sticking to COVID-19 safety plans. Henry said she’s seeing spread as people travel to gather and bring the virus back home with them.
She says life occasions (weddings, funerals, etc.) need to be small and people need to stick with their safe six people.
Henry says she doesn’t want to tighten restrictions but will if the situation gets worse.
Henry also said she has been in communication with Elections BC and there are no outbreaks related to voting.
Island Health
There are 15 active cases in Island Health: five in southern Vancouver Island, seven in central Vancouver Island and three in northern Vancouver Island.
There are no COVID-19 hospitalizations in Island Health. There have been 1,097 tests 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 numbers on Oct. 22, 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.
On Wednesday, B.C. had its first school outbreak at École de l’Anse-au-sable school in Kelowna. Henry said while it’s obviously not what anyone wants to see, it is not unexpected. She said it’s a sign that contact tracing is working. There are five cases connected to the outbreak.
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.
Here are the latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 3:04 p.m. PDT on Oct. 22, 2020:
There are 209,144 confirmed cases in Canada (3 presumptive, 209,141 confirmed including 9,862 deaths, 175,789 resolved)
- Quebec: 97,321 confirmed (including 6,094 deaths, 82,033 resolved)
- Ontario: 67,527 confirmed (including 3,071 deaths, 58,066 resolved)
- Alberta: 23,829 confirmed (including 296 deaths, 20,014 resolved)
- British Columbia: 12,331 confirmed (including 256 deaths, 10,114 resolved)
- Manitoba: 3,773 confirmed (including 47 deaths, 1,920 resolved)
- Saskatchewan: 2,558 confirmed (including 25 deaths, 2,024 resolved)
- Nova Scotia: 1,097 confirmed (including 65 deaths, 1,027 resolved)
- New Brunswick: 319 confirmed (including 4 deaths, 223 resolved)
- Newfoundland and Labrador: 287 confirmed (including 4 deaths, 274 resolved)
- Prince Edward Island: 64 confirmed (including 61 resolved)
- Yukon: 17 confirmed (including 15 resolved)
- Repatriated Canadians: 13 confirmed (including 13 resolved)
- Northwest Territories: 5 confirmed (including 5 resolved), 3 presumptive
- Nunavut: No confirmed cases
According to Johns Hopkins University and Medicine the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide is more than 41.5 million, with more than 1.1 million deaths.
With files from The Canadian Press and CBC
Alexa Huffman
