The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed another life in northern B.C.
Data reported by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control on Tuesday showed a total of 31 people in the Northern Health region have died of COVID-19, up one from Monday. It comes on the same day Northern Health announced one patient linked to the COVID-19 outbreak at the University Hospital of Northern B.C.'s internal medicine unit had died as a result of the disease (see story).
"There have been eight new COVID-19 related deaths (in the province), for a total of 954 deaths in British Columbia," provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a written statement on Tuesday. "We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic."
Henry and Dix reported 428 new cases of COVID-19 in the province on Tuesday, including 45 in the Northern Health region.
"There are 6,472 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. There are 367 individuals currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 77 of whom are in intensive care," Henry and Dix said. "Currently, 8,596 people are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases and a further 45,999 people who tested positive have recovered."
The number of active cases in the Northern Health region wasn't provided, but the B.C. CDC reported 464 active cases in the north – down by 34 from Monday and by 117 from the region's peak of 581 on Dec. 31.
However, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the Northern Health region grew to 27, including 17 in intensive care. On Monday only 19 people were hospitalized in the Northern Health region with COVID-19.
A total of 2,635 people in B.C. were vaccinated between public updates on Monday and Tuesday.
"To date, 28,209 people have received a COVID-19 vaccine in British Columbia," Henry and Dix said. "Our focus is to ensure we safely deliver the vaccines as quickly as possible to communities across the province, using all available supply. While the focus is on first-priority populations in the next three months, as new vaccines are approved and additional supply becomes available, we will incorporate the additional doses into our distribution to enable as many people as possible to be immunized as soon as they can."
A public alert has been issued for the Revelstoke region, where public health officials have seen a recent spike in cases. Henry and Dix urged all British Columbians to continue following public health guidelines and restrictions.
"We were able to slow the increase of new cases in mid-December and we want to continue that trend, but the number of new cases and deaths across the province remains high," Henry and Dix said. "The more people we see, the higher our risks are, which is why keeping our groups small and using our layers of protection is so important right now. With each day that we do our part, we are protecting our friends, families and communities, knowing that the vaccine is now helping to bolster our efforts. Together, we will get through this storm."
