B.C. reports 294 new COVID-19 cases since Friday, 1 new case in Island Health

Posted: Aug. 31, 2020 3:11PM | Last Updated: Sep. 3, 2020 3:01PM

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B.C. health officials say there are 294 new cases of COVID-19 in the province since Friday, including one new case in Island Health.

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.

From Friday to Saturday, there were 86 new cases, followed by 107 new cases from Saturday to Sunday and 101 new cases from Sunday to Monday.

Four more deaths were reported over the weekend. All were long-term care residents. The B.C. COVID-19 death toll is now 208.

The newest case in Island Health is in the central Vancouver Island area in the health authority. Island Health is back to having single-digit active cases. Eight cases are active in the health region as of Monday.

One of the cases in the southern Vancouver Island region was moved to the central Vancouver Island area on Monday.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been 65 cases on south Vancouver Island, 48 cases on central Vancouver Island and 62 on north Vancouver Island.

COVID-19 cases in Island Health as of Aug. 31, 2020 (Island Health)

B.C. has now had a total of 5,790 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, including 175 new cases in Island Health, 1,900 in Vancouver Coastal Health 3,042 in Fraser Health, 440 in Interior Health 154 in Northern Health and 79 among residents from outside of Canada (visitors and temporary foreign workers).

There are 28 people with COVID-19 in hospital in B.C. (an increase of five from Aug. 28). Ten of those people are in intensive care (an increase of three from Aug. 28).

There are now 1,107 active cases of COVID-19 in B.C., the highest in the province’s history. A total of 2,273 people being monitored as a result of identified exposure to known cases (down 523 from Aug. 28) and 4,406 people have recovered.

There is one new outbreak in a long-term care home in the Fraser Health region. There are no new community outbreaks and the Kelowna COVID-19 cluster that began in July has been declared over.

Dr. Bonnie Henry, the provincial health officer, said on Monday, “we all have to be ready” as cooler weather arrives. She said British Columbians need to take a step back from the social interactions they’ve had this summer and go back to the basics: keep groups small, wash hands, physical distancing.

Visitors need to be kept to a minimum as weather cools and people go inside, according to Henry. She also said staying home when you are ill is one of the most important things you can do. She asks that employers recognize this and provide employees what they need to work from home if necessary.

“After many months of restrictions, we all needed to reconnect with our family, our friends this summer. We travelled, we enjoyed our summer, and we recharged. Now we must slow down our social interactions for the respiratory [illness] season ahead,” Henry said.

“As the cooler weather arrives, we all have to be ready. We have seen the challenges that this virus has, and now is our time to prepare. As we step into our offices, our workplaces, our schools, we need to take a step back from some of the social interactions that we’ve had this summer. Being ready means all of us going back to the basics.”

Henry warned that the cold weather could bring a new wave of COVID-19, or it could bring an epidemic of influenza.

“These more, challenging colder months, we have to close those gaps that we’ve had here in the summer and flatten our curve again,” she said.

Health Minister Adrian Dix said the limits of five people in vacation rentals and six people per table in restaurants must guide us in our own homes.

“COVID-19 is knocking at our doors and we cannot let it in,” Dix said.

On Monday, Henry was asked about a commercial she appears in that critics say paints an unrealistic picture of back to school. Henry said it was an opportunity to answer questions from kids and is not meant to represent what classrooms will look like.

B.C. has posted detailed information about the geographic distribution of COVID-19 cases from January to July 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 July 2020. (Province of BC)

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.

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 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 here.

Under Island Health, there are three possible public exposures listed. Anyone who was at the following locations on the following dates and times is asked to self-monitor for symptoms.

- Mary’s Bleue Moon Cafe at 9535 Canora Road, Sidney, B.C. The dates and times provided by Island Health are Aug. 21 between 4 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. and Aug. 22 between 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. OR between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m.
- 10 Acres Cafe & Market at the Sidney Pier Hotel & Spa (NOT The Pier restaurant) at 9805 Seaport Place, Sidney, B.C. The dates and times provided by Island Health are Aug. 20 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. and Aug. 21 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
- Il Falcone Restaurant 536 6th Street Courtenay, B.C. The date and times are Aug. 16 between 3 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

According to data released by Johns Hopkins University and Medicine, the number of global COVID-19 cases is more than 25.3 million, with more than 848,000 deaths.

The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 6:12 p.m. EDT on Aug. 31, 2020:

There are 128,948 confirmed cases in Canada.