Keep circle of friends small, Henry advises

Provincial health officer Bonnie Henry is preaching caution when it comes to increasing the so-called "bubble" of close contacts as the province moves into the second phase of loosening restrictions while still avoiding a sudden upsurge in COVID-19 cases.

On those thinking of hosting a barbecue, Henry suggested not doing so if the household is home to an elderly person or someone with serious medical issues.

"We need to keep our connections small to protect them," she said during a briefing on Wednesday. "But, if we are looking at expanding our circle and we can do that safely, then outside is always better than inside.

"Keep the groups small and consistent, so make a pact with neighbours and friends or neighbours that you're going to be within each others' close contacts over the next coming weeks.

"The fewer people that you will see, the lesser chance that you are going to bring this virus into your household and spread it in your community."

Henry is asking people to limit their bubble of close contacts to no more than six and to continue to practice physical distancing of at least two metres with all other people.

On Wednesday, number of COVID-19 cases in the Northern Health region since the outbreak stood at 57, unchanged since the weekend when the count grew by two. For the province as a whole, the count grew by 16 over the previous 24 hours and added up to 2.376 but offset by 1,859 recoveries, up by 27. The recovery rate of 78.2 per cent was a new milestone.

However, here was one more death - this time in the Fraser Health region -raising that count to 132.

Of the 385 active cases, 59 are in hospital and 14 of those are in intensive care.

For Northern Health, there were six active case, of which two were in hospital and one in critical care, according to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

No deaths from COVID-19 have been recorded in Northern Health.

Health minister Adrian Dix urged people to stay home this long weekend.

But for those who "make that judgment" and take a trip, he encouraged them to be self-contained and avoid shopping in the stores of their destination community.

"If you're going to go to Sechelt, if you're gonna go to the Shuswap, if you are gonna go to the Gulf Islands, bring your own food and your necessities there, so you're able to maintain some semblance of a bubble at that new location," he said. "It's very, very important to do so, and be respectful of the communities that you're visiting."