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Interior Health reports nine new COVID-19 cases; BC records more than 400

Nelson Daily Staff
By Nelson Daily Staff
September 8th, 2020

Among the 429 new COVID-19 cases in BC were nine new reported the Interior Health Region an IH media release said Tuesday.

“A total of nine new COVID-19 cases were reported in Interior Health since Friday, bringing the total numbers of cases in IH since the start of the pandemic to 460,” IH release said.

Interior Health said there are currently 15 active cases of COVID-19 on isolation with no one in hospital in the region.

Of course, that’s not the case in the province as during Tuesday media briefing, Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, and Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health office said Tuesday there were more than 400 new cases in the province following the Labour Day weekend.

“(Tuesday), we are providing case updates for four 24-hour reporting periods,” Dr. Henry and Minister Dix said during the daily government media briefing.

“In the first reporting period from Sept. 4 to 5 we had 123 new cases. Sept. 5 to 6, we had 116 new cases. Sept. 6 to 7 we had 107 new cases and in the last 24 hours, we have had a further 83 new cases.

“This represents a total of 429 new cases, including 12 epi-linked cases, since we reported on Friday, for a total of 6,591 cases in British Columbia.”

Dr. Henry and Minister Dix said there are 1,386 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, 3,063 people who are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases and 4,978 people who tested positive have recovered.

“Currently, 32 individuals are hospitalized with COVID-19, 12 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.”

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 2,249 cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 3,428 in the Fraser Health region, 184 in the Island Health region, 460 in the Interior Health region, 186 in the Northern Health region and 84 cases of people who reside outside of Canada.

Dr. Henry and Minister Dix said there have been two new COVID-19 related deaths, for a total of 213 deaths in British Columbia.

“We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Dr. Henry and Minister Dix said.

Dr. Henry and Minister Dix said there are three new health-care facility outbreaks at Burnaby General Hospital and Rideau Retirement Centre in the Fraser Health region, and at Holy Family Hospital long-term care facility, which is a second outbreak. In total, 11 long-term care or assisted-living facilities and three acute-care facilities have active outbreaks.

Dr. Henry and Minister Dix said there have been no new community outbreaks, although there continue to be community exposure events.

Dr. Henry and Minister Dix said alerts are posted on the BC Centre for Disease Control’s (BCCDC) website, as well as on health authorities’ websites, providing details on where the potential exposure occurred and what actions to take – whether you need to self-isolate or monitor for symptoms.

“As we get back to work and back to school this fall, it is the time for all of us to cut back on our social interactions to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19 for ourselves and everyone around us,” Dr. Henry and Minister Dix said.

“Keeping our household contacts and our controlled work and school groups safe means having few contacts with people we don’t know.

“Whether it is a private party in someone’s home or going to a nightclub, the potential to transmit the virus is the same,” Dr. Henry and Minister Dix added.

“The location may be different, but the risks in these uncontrolled environments are similar – being indoors, in close face-to-face contact with a number of people for an extended period of time, and in many cases, with alcohol.”

Dr. Henry and Minister Dix said in recent weeks, public health teams have been heavily focused on responding to community clusters and exposure events in these higher-risk, uncontrolled locations that have been a major source of transmission since the start of our Phase 3 reopening.

“Despite weeks of effort by public health teams, these venues are creating significant risk to everyone in B.C., and making it more challenging to protect those who are most vulnerable to serious illness,” Dr. Henry and Minister Dix said.

“We need to ensure our public health teams are able to take care of everyone in British Columbia in the weeks and months ahead.

As a result, Dr. Henry and Minister Dix said the provincial health officer’s order on bars, nightclubs and banquet halls has been amended. Effective (Tuesday), all nightclubs and stand-alone banquet halls are ordered closed until further notice.

“Liquor sales in all bars, pubs and restaurants must cease at 10 p.m. and they must close at 11 p.m., unless providing a full meal service, in which case they may stay open, but may not serve liquor until 11 a.m. the following day,” Dr. Henry and Minister Dix said.

“Music or other background sounds, such as from televisions in bars, lounges, pubs and restaurants, must be no louder than the volume of normal conversation.”

Dr. Henry and Minister Dix said now is the time for all of us to go back to our smaller, safer social interactions, especially if our households are increasing our interactions in other ways.

“This is the balance that we all need to find if we are going to weather the storm of the respiratory season ahead that will inevitably create added complexities for all of us,” Dr. Henry and Minister Dix said.

“Let’s use this time to close the gaps that have emerged, recommit to keeping our wall strong and protect ourselves and those around us.”

Interior Health said  The outbreak at the Okanagan Correctional Centre in Oliver (declared Aug. 12) remains at seven cases (all staff). No active cases.

No IH resident cases are currently associated with the Teck Coal Mines outbreak (declared Aug. 27).

A reminder on how to find COVID cases per community throughout Interior Health

  • The BCCDC posts COVID-19 case counts per local health area. The province is divided into local health areas to better understand demography, health system performance, home and community care needs and health behaviour in communities. Interior Health is represents 35 local health areas listed here.
  • The data released by the BCCDC is current to the end of July and it will only be updated monthly. It will not be a regular update like the BCCDC dashboard.
  • The map, like the others, is posted to the Data page: http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/data.
  • The Local Health Area (LHA) map shows the cumulative number of COVID cases (i.e. cases since January) by LHA boundaries.
  • This map offers the most granular geographic level data at which COVID-19 case counts in British Columbia are released.
  • The data comes from the five regional health authorities and the map will be updated after the end of each month.
  • The number of reported cases in the LHA appears under each label.
  • The number of cases in the LHA indicates the place of residence of the case. It may not represent the location of exposure (e.g. people who acquired disease while traveling or working elsewhere). Cases with unknown residence and from out of province are not mapped.
  • Not all COVID-19 infected individuals are tested and reported; the virus may be circulating undetected in the community, including in areas where no cases have been identified by public health.

Categories: GeneralHealth

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