Weekend report goes from bad to worse — 2,354 new COVID-19 cases in BC, 212 Interior Health
By Nelson Daily Staff
BC is seeing a horrendous increase in new COVID-19 cases, not only throughout the province, but also in Interior Health as Monday the region reported 212 reports since Friday.
The spike in Interior Health comes the same day the province reported 2,354 new cases of COVID-19, including 10 epi-linked cases, for a total of 33,238 cases in BC.
The 2,354 new cases include 277 historical cases from the Fraser Health region, reconciling a data lag from earlier this month.
There have been 46 new COVID-19 related deaths, for a total of 441 deaths in British Columbia.
“This has been a challenging pandemic for all of us, with so many of the usual ways that we connect with those we care about – our families, friends and communities – paused or significantly changed as a result of COVID-19,” said Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer at the Monday media briefing.
Dr. Henry said there are 8,855 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, with 316 individuals currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 75 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.
“Currently, 10,139 people are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases and 23,111 people who tested positive have recovered,” Dr. Henry said.
Since Dr. Henry last reported, there are 368 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 1,365 in the Fraser Health region, 58 in the Island Health region, 212 in the Interior Health region, 73 in the Northern Health region and one new case of a person who resides outside of Canada.
Currently Interior Health has 490 cases are active and on isolation with 15 people in hospital and five in ICU.
Interior Health also Monday declared a COVID-19 outbreak at Mountainview Village long-term care home after conducting a thorough public health investigation.
Interior Health said the outbreak applies to both east and west units on the second floor.
“One staff member and one resident on the second floor have tested positive for COVID-19,” the Interior Health media statement said.
“Staff members in close contact with these individuals are in self-isolation and monitoring for symptoms. IH will continue to monitor the situation, while implementing additional infection control and preventive measures.”
Interior Health said to protect the safety of all residents, outbreak protocols have been implemented in the affected units including a temporary pause in visits to all residents on the second floor. Social visits remain open to residents on the first floor.
Interior Health continues to take steps to protect the health of all staff, individuals in care and families at long-term care homes.
This includes:
- Ensuring long-term care staff are only working at one care home (as per the provincial single site order).
- Monitoring all residents for respiratory symptoms and conducting COVID-19 testing on anyone with COVID-19 symptoms.
- Enhanced cleaning protocols and COVID-19 visitor policies.
Mountainview Village is privately owned and operated with 90 publicly funded long-term care beds.
Interior Health has frequently updated COVID-19 information on our public website www.interiorhealth.ca.
Remember that you are not alone in your sacrifice; it is our collective effort that makes the difference and will see us through,” Dr. Henry said.
“We have done this before and we can do it again. Let’s do our part today to slow community transmission, to slow COVID-19 and protect everyone in our province.”
