The new COVID-19 numbers released Thursday marked a grim milestone for Canada.
There are now more than 100,000 confirmed cases across the country. And COVID-19 has killed 8,306 Canadians since the virus first arrived in January.
B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the numbers do not tell the whole story of the disease.
“It’s always very hard when we see these numbers. And we know that each of those people who have been ill reflect the pain of their entire family, their community,” Dr. Henry said.
Quebec and Ontario account for 87 per cent of Canada’s cases.
Quebec has more than 54,000 cases and Ontario is at almost 33,000 cases.
Alberta’s caseload is the third highest in the country with more than 7,500, while B.C. trails behind at 2,775 cases.
Quebec leads the country with 65 deaths per 100,000, Ontario at 19 per 100,000, Alberta and B.C. with four per 100,000. A
As the number of new cases continues to slow down, provinces are gradually reopening. In B.C., the legislature will resume on Monday, the first sitting since March 26. It’s another sign the province is moving towards Phase 3 of its reopening.
But the doctor who treated Canada’s first COVID-19 patient, Dr. Jerome Leis, medical director of Infection Prevention & Control at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, said he’s concerned about reopening with the level of contact tracing now being done across the country.
“There’s opportunity to be doing contact tracing in a more timely fashion. I think the goal would be to identify do contact tracing in less than 24 hours in the vast majority of cases. And I think that you know we’re not quite there yet,” Dr. Leis said.
Henry says people must continue to be cautious because the virus is still spreading in B.C.
“We’re not at that point where we can let down our guard. We need to have the important measures in place that keep us all safe,” she said.
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Mary Griffin
