‘Right now it’s not working’: Province sees surge in cases

The recent uptick in cases is due to personal gatherings such as weddings, funerals, and home events.

“We are seeing that cases from social gatherings are spilling into other areas of our community.”—Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C. Provincial Health Officer

Through contact tracing the Provincial Health Officer says that it is clear that British Columbians are not sticking to their COVID-19 safety plans at social events—causing the ease for transmission.

Cases from gatherings held in one area of our province have impacted people across B.C., Dr. Henry highlighting a case in which a health care worker attended a personal gathering and contracted the virus, leading to transmission in their workplace.

Northern Health saw an increase of four new cases for a total of 365 since the start of the pandemic, while provincially, 274 new cases, including one epi-linked case, were announced for a total of 12,331 since March.

Cases by Health Region:

Vancouver Coastal Health: 4,260
Fraser Health:6,720
Vancouver Island Health: 249
Interior Health: 644
Northern Health: 365
People who reside outside of Canada: 88

There are no new deaths, remaining at 256. 1,920 reported cases are active in the province. 71 people are in hospital and of those 24 are in ICU.

4,425 people are being monitored by public health for coming into contact with a known case of the virus.

“As much as I am hesitant to do so…and we have seen this before…if there is major source of transmission additional measures can, and will be put in place if they’re needed. We will use all the tools that are available.”—Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C. Provincial Health Officer

Dr. Henry reminding British Columbians that if gatherings aren’t being held safely she will have to introduce additional measures to ensure the wellbeing of British Columbians.

In regards to yesterday’s announcement of the first confirmed outbreak at a school, Henry says it is not unexpected.

“We are not seeing return to school cause amplification in our communities but it does, as we’ve been expecting, reflect what is going on in our communities.”—Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C. Provincial Health Officer

Since school got back in session there have been 213 school exposure events, six clusters and one outbreak.

“While it is concerning that we have an outbreak what I think is positive about this is that we have been monitoring all of the exposure events and we have had very little transmission in schools,” said Dr. Henry.

160 members at École de l’Anse-au-sable in Kelowna are self-isolating for 14 days and monitoring for symptoms of COVID-19.

10,114 people have recovered from COVID-19 in B.C.

Photo Courtesy: Province of British Columbia, Flickr.

by Veronica Beltran

‘Right now it’s not working’: Province sees surge in cases

Cases by Health Region:

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