Active cases of COVID-19 in Northern Health stood at 397, according to B.C. Centre for Disease Control numbers issued Thursday - a 32-case jump from the day before.
As well, the region saw 52 new cases added to the books. However, hospitalizations rose by just two, to 20, compared to as many as 48 on Jan. 27, while those in intensive care declined by one to 16.
Meanwhile, Shas Ti Kelly Road Secondary School was added to the Northern Health exposure list for the second time in less than a week, this time for an exposure during January 28-29. The first was for January 25-27. Six deaths were reported in B.C., all of them in Fraser Health.
Active cases for B.C. as a whole continued to flatline with the count standing at 4,447, compared to 4,445 the week before.
Fraser Health remained the leader for active cases on Thursday at 1,731, up 54 from Wednesday, followed by 1,062 in Vancouver Coastal Health, down 50. Interior Health was home to 985 cases, down by seven, and Vancouver Island Health stood at 265, down by eight.
In all, 465 new cases were confirmed province-wide with Fraser Health accounting for 234, Vancouver Coastal 98, Interior 54 and Vancouver Island 27. No new cases were reported for patients from outside Canada and active cases on that front held steady at seven.
In a joint statement, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and health minister Adrian Dix encouraged football fans to make "safe choices" this Superbowl Sunday.
They include limiting contact to immediate household only, frequent hand washing and wearing masks and maintaining physical distance of at least two metres while out in public.
"This is especially important given we are still learning about the full impact of the variants of concern now in our communities," Dix and Henry said. "Here in B.C., our curve is slowly moving downward. With each day we keep our wall strong and show compassion and kindness to those around us, we can keep the trend going."
