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B.C. keeping the lid on COVID

How well is B.C. coping with COVID-19? Much better than our neighbours to the south, according to figures released Monday by the province.
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Health Minister Adrian Dix provides the media an COVID-19 update in Victoria.

How well is B.C. coping with COVID-19?

Much better than our neighbours to the south, according to figures released Monday by the province.

The Northern Health region has certainly kept the cap on the pandemic with no new cases reported over the past two weeks and the count remains at 65, with no deaths attributed to the virus.

Fraser Health leads all health regions in B.C. with 1,474 cases since the outbreak started in March. There have been 954 cases in Vancouver Coastal Health, 198 in Interior Health and 131 in Vancouver Island Health.

The province now has 182 active cases, 14 of which required hospitalization, with six COVID patients in acute care or intensive care. A total of 2,471 patients have fully recovered from the virus.

There was one COVID-19 death over the weekend, which brought the total for the province to 169.

At Monday’s health briefing in Victoria, Health Minister Adrian Dix referred to the World Health Organization’s statement that on Sunday there were 180,020 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed, the largest one-day increase since the pandemic began.

Three U.S. states – Oregon, California and Arizona broke records over the past week for the largest single-day increases in COVID cases and Washington state has also seen an alarming rise in the totals.

“British Columbians, of course, have profound connections to the United States and what those circumstances tell us is the need to be vigilant,”  said Dix. “Our closest neighbours to the south in Washington state have seen in the last week, not counting today, 2,846 new cases in a period where we’ve had 83 in B.C. (and) 56 new deaths in a period where we’ve had one new death in our province.

“People have made tremendous sacrifices to get to where we are but it is a worldwide pandemic and requires as well a worldwide response and we are in it together. I think what it tells us as we open up our society is the need to maintain physical distancing is increased, not decreased, that physical distancing saves lives, especially now as we are all doing more things together.”

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry will provide a technical briefing Tuesday afternoon on B.C.'s latest epidemiological modelling projections, which will help determine when the province can introduce Phase 3 of its restart plan.

Henry said slowing spread of the virus is a direct result of safety measures B.C. residents have been following since Phase 2 of the plan was put in place in early June.

“We know that when the virus is anywhere, the risk is everywhere,” Henry said. “We’ve seen record numbers of cases reported in the world, including our neighbouring countries. The gradual easing of restrictions means more activities can get underway but it does not mean a change to the foundations of what is keeping us safe in here British Columbia.

“That is safe physical distancing, making sure we keep our groups small, so we’re not exposing large numbers of people and we know who we can contact if we need to. My order for no more than 50 people at gatherings and events will be in place will remain until we have effective means to stop COVID-19 in our province.”

Henry anticipates travelers will be touring around the province this summer on vacations and reminded that anybody arriving in B.C. from other countries, whether they fly or drive, is subject to provincial and federal quarantine orders. International visitors must either be essential workers or show proof they will be remaining strictly with family members for more than 15 days.

“We have never had travel restrictions on people coming from other parts of Canada,” said Henry. “We know there’s been a lot of  work done across the country and that we are managing this pandemic in Canada fairly well. So I am not particularly worried.

“We want to focus on B.C. for B.C. and how important it is for us to enjoy our own province and our own natural environment here.”