Three new cases of COVID-19 were reported in northern B.C. on Tuesday, but the number of active cases was on the decline.
In a joint statement, deputy provincial health officer Dr. Réka Gustafson and Health Minister Adrian Dix said the total number of cases in the Northern Health region increased to 425.
"Today, we are reporting 299 new cases, including four epi-linked cases, for a total of 15,800 cases in British Columbia," Gustafson and Dix said. "There are 3,017 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, 6,888 people who are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases and 12,430 people who tested positive have recovered."
Throughout B.C., 92 people were hospitalized with the disease, including 22 in intensive care. Three more COVID-19-related deaths were reported on Tuesday, bringing the province's death toll from the pandemic to 272.
"We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic," Gustafson and Dix said. "There has been one new health-care facility outbreak at Belvedere Care Centre. In total, 27 long-term care or assisted-living facilities and two acute-care facilities have active outbreaks."
Northern Health is monitoring an outbreak at the Rotary Manor in Dawson Creek, where a single staff person tested positive for COVID-19. The outbreak was declared on Monday, but the last possible exposure date was on Oct. 25.
Because of the high risk COVID-19 poses to seniors, even a single case in a long-term care facility is considered to be an outbreak.
The number of active cases in the north wasn't provided, but on Tuesday the B.C. Centre for Disease Control reported 21 active cases in the Northern Health region – down from 34 on Monday. No patients with COVID-19 in the north were hospitalized.
Gustafson and Dix urged British Columbians to keep their social gatherings small, or avoid them all together as the province faces another surge in the pandemic.
"Today, much of the recent transmission is connected to social gatherings. That is why it is so important to keep our groups small," they said. "Keeping our communities well means keeping them safe. It is about ensuring we have capacity within our health-care system, protecting those who are most vulnerable and continuing what's important to our well-being in safe, responsible ways."
