B.C. health officials say there are 105 new cases of COVID-19 in B.C. as of Tuesday, but no new cases in Island Health.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, and Stephen Brown, deputy minister of health, issued Tuesday’s numbers in a joint statement.
Three 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.
There was also one new COVID-19 death reported in the last 24 hours in the Fraser Valley. B.C.’s COVID-19 death toll is now 234.
B.C. has now had a total of 9,013 cases since the start of the pandemic.
Island Health COVID-19 cases
There are five active cases in Island Health: two on southern Vancouver Island, one on central Vancouver Island and two on northern Vancouver Island.
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 has recorded 206 cases since the start of the pandemic. There are no COVID-19 hospitalizations in Island Health as of Tuesday and 195 people have recovered.
Island Health’s COVID-19 numbers as of Sept. 29, 2020.
B.C.’s COVID-19 cases
Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 3,286 cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 4,594 in the Fraser Health region, 206 in the Island Health region, 531 in the Interior Health region, 309 in the Northern Health region and 87 cases of people who reside outside of Canada.
There are 1,268 active cases of COVID-19 in the province (down 34 from Sept. 28), 3,337 people who are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases (down 35 from Sept 28) and 7,485 people who tested positive have recovered.
Sixty-nine people are hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change from Sept. 28), 20 of whom are in intensive care (down two from Sept. 28).
There has been one new health-care facility outbreak at Haro Park Centre long-term care facility in the Vancouver Coastal Health region. 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
- 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
- Yaletown House long-term care facility in Vancouver Coastal Health
- Haro Park Centre 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
- 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 have been no new community outbreaks.
“This year is unique for all of us, and COVID-19 has required that we connect and show we care in new and different ways, ” Henry and Brown said in Tuesday’s statement.
“We have had to change our special celebrations and gatherings to keep the people we care about safe. This same approach is how we need to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. Rather than travelling to see friends or hosting a large family dinner, make it small this year and plan to connect virtually instead.
“Although this may not be what we want to do, let’s not lose sight of the fact that by making these sometimes difficult choices now, we will be healthier and stronger tomorrow. By choosing to stay home and stay small, we are reducing the potential for transmission of COVID-19 and protecting the people in our family and community who are most at risk.
“Keeping a safe physical distance, visiting from afar, using our layers of protection and always remembering our safety basics is how we show we care. Let’s do the right thing and support those around us to do the same.”
State of emergency extended in B.C. again
The B.C. government announced Tuesday that it had once again extended the provincial state of emergency, allowing health and emergency management officials to continue to use extraordinary powers under the Emergency Program Act to support the province’s COVID-19 pandemic response.
The state of emergency is extended through the end of the day on Oct. 13, 2020.
A provincial declaration of a state of emergency allows the province to implement provincial emergency measures and allows access to assets that may be necessary to prevent, respond to or alleviate the effects of an emergency. This is a temporary measure authorized by the Emergency Program Act.
The state of emergency was first declared on March 18, the day after Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer, declared a public health emergency.
Then on July 10, the COVID-19 Related Measures Act was implemented, enabling provisions created for citizens and businesses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to continue as needed should the provincial state of emergency end.
This is the province’s longest-ever state of emergency. During the 2017 wildfire season, the province was in a provincial state of emergency for 10 weeks from July 7 to Sept. 15.
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 4:37 p.m. PDT on Sept. 29, 2020:
There are 156,967 confirmed cases in Canada (7 presumptive, 156,960 confirmed including 9,291 deaths, 133,735 resolved)
- Quebec: 73,450 confirmed (including 5,833 deaths, 62,095 resolved)
- Ontario: 51,085 confirmed (including 2,844 deaths, 43,450 resolved)
- Alberta: 17,909 confirmed (including 266 deaths, 16,072 resolved)
- British Columbia: 9,013 confirmed (including 234 deaths, 7,485 resolved)
- Manitoba: 1,953 confirmed (including 20 deaths, 1,327 resolved)
- Saskatchewan: 1,899 confirmed (including 24 deaths, 1,737 resolved)
- Nova Scotia: 1,087 confirmed (including 65 deaths, 1,021 resolved)
- Newfoundland and Labrador: 272 confirmed (including 3 deaths, 267 resolved)
- New Brunswick: 200 confirmed (including 2 deaths, 191 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 33.4 million. There have been over 1 million deaths from COVID-19 recorded.
Alexa Huffman
