B.C. health officials reported 96 new cases of COVID-19 in the province Tuesday, with no new cases in Island Health.
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.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer and Stephen Brown, the B.C. deputy minister of health, released Tuesday’s numbers in a statement.
Island Health
Island Health now has eight active cases (three fewer than Sept. 21).
Of those active cases, one is on southern Vancouver Island (no change from Sept. 21), four are on central Vancouver Island (three fewer than Sept. 21) and three are on northern Vancouver Island (no change from Sept. 21).
There are no COVID-19 hospitalizations in Island Health. There have been 203 cases since the start of the pandemic. A total of 190 people have recovered and there have been five deaths.
Island Health’s COVID-19 numbers as of Sept. 22, 2020. (Island Health)
B.C. has now had a total of 8,304 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.
There are 1,465 active cases of COVID-19 in the province(522 fewer than Sept. 21) , 3,314 people who are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases (an increase of 91 from Sept. 21) and 6,589 people who tested positive have recovered.
Sixty-one peoplewith COVID-19 are in hospital (an increase of one from Sept. 21), 22 of whom are in intensive care (an increase of one from Sept. 21). No new COVID-19 deaths were reported on Tuesday. The B.C. COVID-19 death roll remains at 227.
Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 2,984 cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 4,254 in the Fraser Health region, 203 in the Island Health region, 511 in the Interior Health region, 266 in the Northern Health region and 86 cases of people who reside outside of Canada.
There has been an hew healthcare outbreak in one unit at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. In total, 12 long-term care or assisted-living facilities and four acute-care facilities have active outbreaks. They are:
- OPAL by Element assisted-living facility 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 outbreak) in Vancouver Coastal Health
- Yaletown House long-term care facility in Vancouver Coastal Health
- Bear Creek Villa independent-living facility in Fraser Health
- Cherington Place long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- Evergreen Hamlets long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- Kin Village assisted living facility in 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
- Normanna long-term care facility in Fraser Health
- Rideau Retirement Centre independent-living facility in Fraser Health
There have been no new community outbreaks.
“The start of fall is the time for all of us to regroup and reset our COVID-19 routines, and ready ourselves for the colder, wetter months ahead,” Henry and Brown said in Tuesday’s statement.
“As we move inside, the activities we choose to do and the layers of protection we use need to be adjusted to ensure we are protecting ourselves, our friends and family – especially those who are most vulnerable to severe illness.
“This means spending less time with others outside of our household bubble right now.
“We need to push our COVID-19 curve back down and keep the virus low and slow, so we can manage the many challenges that will come with the respiratory season.”
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 as of Tuesday, Sept. 22.
B.C. has posted detailed information about the geographic distribution of COVID-19 cases from January to August 2020. This map will be continually updated, 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 5:23 p.m. PDT on Sept. 22, 2020:
There are 146,663 confirmed cases in Canada (0 presumptive, 146,663 confirmed including 9,234 deaths, 126,903 resolved)
- Quebec: 68,617 confirmed (including 5,805 deaths, 59,450 resolved)
- Ontario: 47,752 confirmed (including 2,832 deaths, 41,342 resolved)
- Alberta: 16,889 confirmed (including 258 deaths, 15,066 resolved)
- British Columbia: 8,304 confirmed (including 227 deaths, 6,589 resolved)
- Saskatchewan: 1,824 confirmed (including 24 deaths, 1,654 resolved)
- Manitoba: 1,632 confirmed (including 18 deaths, 1,234 resolved)
- Nova Scotia: 1,087 confirmed (including 65 deaths, 1,021 resolved)
- Newfoundland and Labrador: 272 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 267 resolved)
- New Brunswick: 196 confirmed (including 2 deaths, 191 resolved)
- Prince Edward Island: 57 confirmed (including 56 resolved)
- Yukon: 15 confirmed (including 15 resolved)
- Repatriated Canadians: 13 confirmed (including 13 resolved)
- Northwest Territories: 5 confirmed (including 5 resolved)
- Nunavut: No confirmed cases
According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Medicine, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide is more than 31.4 million. More than 967,000 deaths from COVID-19 have been recorded globally. The United States continues to have the highest number of cases and deaths, with the official death toll in the U.S. now over 200,000.
Alexa Huffman
