366 weekend cases, four new deaths (one in Northern Health region) frame the COVID-19 report as the Health Minster fades from view during election call

Dr. Bonnie Henry has a new wingman for her daily updates on the province's work on COVID issues, with Health Minister Adrian Dix now shifting to the sidelines and his quest for re-election following the election call from Premier Horgan earlier today.

Stepping in for the Health Minister will be the Deputy Minister of Health Stephen Brown, a high level member of the civil service, for his first day as part of the provincial health partnership he and the Public Health Officer delivered the weekend case count, which as had been anticipated topped over the 350 mark.

“Today, we are announcing three 24-hour reporting periods. In the first reporting period from Sept. 18 to 19 we had 121 new cases. From Sept. 19 to 20 we had 117 new cases and in the last 24 hours, we have had a further 128 new cases. 

This represents a total of 366 new cases, including seven epi-linked cases, for a total of 8,208 cases in British Columbia. 

There are 1,987 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, 3,233 people who are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases and 5,972 people who tested positive have recovered. 

Currently, 60 individuals are hospitalized with COVID-19, 21 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation. 

There have been four new COVID-19 related deaths, two in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, one in Fraser Health and one in Northern Health, for a total of 227 deaths in British Columbia. We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic." 

When it came to the review by Health Authority the background to the weekend delivered the totals to date for the following Health Authorities.

2,945 cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 4,211 in the Fraser Health region, 203 in the Island Health region, 508 in the Interior Health region, 255 in the Northern Health region, that making for an increase of eleven since Friday, Northern Health also recorded the second death since the pandemic began. 

86 cases of COVID have been recorded in people who reside outside of Canada. 

With the daily cases now regularly topping the 100 plus mark, the two health officials provided some reminders on the need to be aware of our situations and the maintain the measures of the past to reduce any further surges in the future.

“COVID-19 requires us to set new routines and new boundaries to keep ourselves, our families and our friends safe this fall and winter. Take a few moments today to determine the safe distances for each of your activities. 

The less time you spend with someone, the farther apart you should be. If you’ve never met the person before, then maintaining two metres distance is very important. 

However, for your household bubble and ‘safe six’ friends, closer is okay, unless someone is more vulnerable to severe illness from COVID-19. For classmates and colleagues who you see most days, the safe distance lies somewhere in between. 

The easiest way to set these new routines and help to protect our communities as we progress into respiratory season is to stick with the same group of friends, the same colleagues or classmates."

Doctor Henry also took note of today's election call and provided a few thoughts on how her office will work with Elections BC towards a safe vote opportunity.

“While a provincial election has been called today, B.C.’s COVID-19 response plan will continue uninterrupted. As has been done since the start of the pandemic, a daily COVID-19 update will be provided to keep everyone in B.C. informed. 

Like other parts of our economy, the provincial health officer has also worked with Elections BC to set the guidelines for a safe election process. 

The guidelines include how political parties and their candidates need to keep themselves, their staff and volunteers, and their communities safe during the campaign, as well as how the elections process needs to occur to ensure the safety of everyone."

You can review the COVID-19 report for Monday 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, those past advisories  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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