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No new cases of COVID-19 in the north, pandemic reaches milestone

There were no new cases of COVID-19 reported in the Northern Health region on Thursday. The total number of confirmed cases remained at 46 in the north, with three people hospitalized with the disease, provincial health officer Dr.
COVID WEB

There were no new cases of COVID-19 reported in the Northern Health region on Thursday.

The total number of confirmed cases remained at 46 in the north, with three people hospitalized with the disease, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said on Thursday. As of Wednesday, 41 people had recovered from COVID-19 in northern B.C., leaving five active cases of COVID-19 in the north, according to data released by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

"Today is one of those landmark days. It has been 100 days since we put our first warning about what we were calling novel corona virus then," Henry said. "In the last 100 days we have all watched the pandemic spread, first in China and then around the world. Our lives have all really changed in the last 100 days."

Across B.C., there were 25 new cases reported, including 12 new infections among inmates of the Mission Correctional Centre, Henry said. The total number of confirmed cases in the province since the pandemic began rose to 2,112 on Thursday.

Across the province, 82 people were hospitalized from COVID-19, including 30 in critical care. All three patients hospitalized in the Northern Health region were in critical care as of Wednesday, according to the B.C. CDC.

Two more people in B.C. died of COVID-19, bringing the death toll from the pandemic to 111. As of Thursday, there had been no deaths in the north.

Across B.C., 1,322 people had fully recovered from the disease.

Dix said the outbreak at the Mission Correctional Centre and two poultry plants in the Lower Mainland is a warning about what could happen if public health restrictions are lifted too soon. As of Thursday, 92 cases have been linked to the poultry plant outbreaks and 120 at the correctional centre, Henry said.

A total of 33 long-term care homes in B.C. have had outbreaks of COVID-19, of which 12 have been declared over.

Dix said the province had identified 545 long-term care facilities in B.C. which had employees working at multiple facilities. As of Thursday, 276 of those – including 27 in the Norther Health region – had implemented plans to have workers only working at a single facility.

"All 545 are underway," Dix said.

It's difficult to know exactly how many outbreaks of COVID-19 at long-term care facilities were caused by workers spreading the disease from one facility to another, Henry said.

"It has been an important consideration, especially early on," she said. "It has been something we have recognized as a challenge, even before COVID-19."

Gamblers looking to get their slot-machine or blackjack fix – and municipalities who receive a share of casino revenue – should expect to be waiting for quiet awhile, Henry said. Casinos in B.C. have been closed by a public health order and likely won't be opening soon, she said, because of the difficulty of social distancing and the older, more vulnerable nature of the clientele.

Henry will be releasing more pandemic modelling data on Monday, and announcements are expected next week on what the future will look like in the province.

"The premier will be speaking next week... on our go-forward plan," Henry said. "(But) right now we have to stay strong."