The Island Health region has four new cases of COVID-19 as part of a three-day total of 236 new cases in B.C. since Friday, said deputy provincial health officer Dr. Reka Gustafson.
There are six active cases in the Island Health region, among 743 active cases in the province. Of the 154 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 on Vancouver Island since the pandemic began, 143 have recovered and five have died.
“The majority of new infections in B.C. at this time are among young adults,” people who may have relatively mild infections but who can inadvertently spread it to more vulnerable populations, Gustafson said. “It is very important to remember that for our elders and those with underlying health conditions, the potential for severe disease remains. This may not apply to you, but you could easily spread the virus to someone who is vulnerable through your work or when spending time with friends and family.”
In B.C., 2,286 people are under public health monitoring for symptoms.
“Today we have a number of active outbreaks and community clusters and our public health teams on the ground are very proactively managing and following up these outbreaks, notifying close contacts, and doing all they can to break the chain of infection, but for us to be successful we actually need everybody to help,”Gustafson said.
From Friday to Monday the province announced 100 new cases — the second highest recorded number of single-day cases since the pandemic began, said B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix. There were 88 cases from Saturday to Sunday, and 48 cases Sunday to Monday, for a total of 236 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 in B.C.
Of the 4,594 cases in the province to date, there have been 1,419 cases in Vancouver Coastal Health, 2,425 cases in the Fraser Health Authority, 154 cases on Vancouver Island, 405 in the Interior Health Authority, and 117 in Northern Health Authority. Of those cases, 3,653 people have recovered.
On Monday, four people with COVID-19 were in hospital. Two new deaths, both in the Fraser Health region, were reported on for a total of 198 to date.
“I wanted to start on behalf of the premier, of the government, I think, all people in B.C., to send out our condolences to the families of the two people who died from Saturday to Sunday of COVID-19 in B.C., and to the 198 families in total, the 196 other families who’ve lost loved ones during the pandemic,” said Dix. “It is an extraordinarily difficult time right now to grieve.”
Dix said he spent the weekend engaged with young people, encouraging them to influence one another to do their part in not spreading COVID-19 “because this pandemic is not ending soon.
“This pandemic that we are all tired of, so very tired of, will be going on now, we would expect, will through 2021, into 2022,” said Dix.
“This new normal’s going to be in place for a long time and the way that we address that, the way we deal with that … has to be by choice and by engagement and by talking to each other and by encouraging one another and when we fall, helping one another up,” said Dix.
There are two new outbreaks in the health care system, in the Czorny Alzheimer Centre in the Fraser Health region, and the Arbutus Care Centre in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, for a total of 10 — nine in long-term care facilities and assisted living and one in acute care. There are no outbreaks in long-term care facilities on Vancouver Island.
On Friday, 7-Eleven announced an employee at its store on 1327 Douglas St., on the corner of Douglas and Johnson streets. Patrons in the store between Aug. 10 and Aug. 14 were asked to self monitor and call HealthLink BC at 811 for information.
The case of the7-Eleven employee was not addressed in the public update by the deputy provincial health officer on Monday and the Health Ministry could not be contacted for comment. Island Health has not issued an advisory. The store was open on Monday.
This weekend, Northern Health issued a community exposure alert for anyone who may have attended the It Is Time Canada event in Deadwood, Alta., from July 30 to Aug. 2. Attendees are asked to self-isolate for 14 days and monitor for symptoms.
