Recommitment to small gatherings of known friends and family the message; as BC notes 80 new cases of COVID today

Another high count for the week made for the day's talking point from Health Minister Adrian Dix and Deputy Health Officer Dr. Reka Gustafson; with the health officials making note of 80 new cases bringing the British Columbia total to 4,825 British Columbian's who have come in contact with the COVID-19 virus.

“There are 780 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, 2,574 people who are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases and 3,845 people who tested positive have recovered. 

Currently, 11 individuals are hospitalized with COVID-19, four of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation."  

Across the province, the relay of information from the Health Authorities on total case amounts was as follows:

1,526 cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 2,533 in the Fraser Health region, 159 in the Island Health region, 411 in the Interior Health region, 121 in the Northern Health region, an increase of one since Wednesday. 

There are also 75 cases of people who reside outside of Canada who have COVID. 

There were two new COVID-19 related deaths in the Fraser Health region for a total of 200 deaths in British Columbia. 

Today's review also examined what British Columbians have learned of the COVID virus and where we can still learn more into the future, with a focus on limiting our gatherings to those in with our known circle of family and friends.

"Science has shown us that regardless of where we may be in our province and what we may be doing, crowded indoor gatherings that encourage close proximity, especially those surrounded by people we do not know and involve alcohol, are a clear source of transmission. 

That is why it is so important to keep your groups small, to spend time with people you know and to always stay home when you are feeling ill. 

The data show us that small, indoor gatherings differ from controlled settings, such as an office or classroom, where you know who is in the space and can more easily take precautions to protect yourself and those around you. 

While we still have much to learn about COVID-19, what we do know is that by continually monitoring for clusters, quickly managing new cases and containing the spread, we can protect our most vulnerable and keep ourselves, our loved ones and our communities safe."

You can review the full report for Thursday here.  

The BC Centre for Disease control has some valuable Coronavirus notes related to COVID-19 you can explore that information here.

You can learn more about the outbreak from both the Province and the Federal government from the links below:

Federal Government site

British Columbia Government site

The World Health Organization website also offers up the latest advisories on the global situation.

More from  Northern Health can be reviewed here 

You can review our archive of past statements and local information here.

Local governments and organizations have also provided for increased awareness of COVID-19 issues, the string of statements that came quickly at the end of the week can be reviewed here.

For notes from across Canada and British Columbia we have been archiving the latest items through our political portal Darcy McGee

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