Ten people on Vancouver Island tested positive for COVID-19 over the long weekend, as 549 new B.C. cases were announced on Tuesday.
Dr. Bonnie Henry said the increase is linked in some parts of the province to community sports like hockey and soccer, so parents should stay away from games for now.
Players should be prioritized, just like in the recent NHL playoffs, she said, because COVID-19 has been transmitted among those who have socialized before, during and after attending both indoor and outdoor games.
Henry said transmission of COVID-19 at games has meant some sports facilities have had to close, even though they’ve had pandemic measures in place.
And she said that while physical activity is important, students should stick to one sports team at school as well as in the community.
A total of 10,734 cases of COVID-19 have now been diagnosed in B.C., and five more people have died, for a total of 250 fatalities, and Henry said transmission into the community from recreational sports should be prevented as much as possible.
“We need to step back and remember that even though we want to see everything that our child is doing, that this is a time to focus on letting them play and play safely and making sure we keep our safe distance from others so we don’t jeopardize these sports team,” Henry said.
“I’m hearing multiple reports of people being involved in multiple different activities and this is a time where we need to whittle it down, make sure we’re keeping our contacts smaller.”
Henry said the current number of cases is higher than what has been seen in B.C., and that partly involved a backlog of tests, mostly in the Fraser Health region.
Of the 39,170 tests done between Saturday and Monday, 1.39 per cent were positive, she said.
There are now 20 outbreaks active in the province — 17 in the long-term care system and three in acute care.
