Thursday's COVID review outlines additional orders in place surrounding St. Patrick's Day, but also a loosening of current measures for outdoor activities

The Thursday update from Doctor Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix was a newsmaker for a number of items relayed in their afternoon session; though the number of cases of COVID reported on the day wasn't one of them, that total stubbornly remaining in the 500 to 600 range once again today.

Instead it was an indication that much like New Years' Eve, the St, Patrick's Day period will have measures in place to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID.

However, with those additional measures comes a bit more freedom for those gathering in groups outside, as the Public Health Officer announced some of those measures are to be revised as we move forward into Spring. 

“Today, we are reporting 569 new cases, including three epi-linked cases, for a total of 86,219 cases in British Columbia. 

There are 4,912 active cases of COVID-19 in the province with 8,989 people under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases. A further 79,829 people who tested positive have recovered. 

Of the active cases, 244 individuals are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 68 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation. 

There have been three new COVID-19 related deaths in the last 24 hours, for a total of 1,397 deaths in British Columbia."

Across the province the count from the regional health authorities was as follows: 140 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 301 new cases in the Fraser Health region, 41 in the Island Health region, 26 in the Interior Health region, 

There were 60 new cases recorded in the Northern Health region, which puts the Northern BC total over the 5,000 mark now, with  5,045 cases recorded since January of 2020.

As well there was one new case of a person with COVID in British Columbia who resides outside of Canada.

Towards their watch on variant cases, today report noted. that there have been 11 new confirmed COVID-19 cases that are variants of concern in our province, for a total of 638 cases. Of the total cases, 89 are active. The remaining people have recovered. This includes 588 cases of the B.1.1.7 (U.K.) variant, 36 cases of the B.1.351 (South Africa) variant and 14 cases of the P.1 (Brazil) variant. “

The ongoing vaccination program numbers were as follows for Thursday with 366,791 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine having been administered in B.C., 87,009 of which are second doses. 

Dr. Henry and the Health Minister provided a wider overview of some of the modelling on the pandemic which is available for your review here.

As well, today provided a bit of blue sky from the months of grey, with word that while indoor restrictions will remain in place, and in fact a bit of a tightening is to come as St. Patrick's Day arrives. However, some of the outdoor measures are being relaxed, allowing now for gatherings of up to 10 people.

“Where we can do things more safely is outside. As a result, the provincial health officer (PHO) order on gatherings and events has been amended to allow for outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people. 

Should you choose to meet with your family and friends, remember that safety needs to continue to be top of mind and the requirement to follow all COVID-19 safety plans remains in place – at work or school, when we are out for dinner or going to the grocery store. 

There are no changes to the current restrictions on indoor gatherings – in our homes or elsewhere. The requirements for restaurants and bars also continue. This is a slow turning of the dial. 

 St. Patrick’s Day is next week, a day when we often gather with friends. While we can now enjoy the day in a small group outside, the PHO order on food and liquor establishments is being amended to restrict alcohol sales as they were on New Year’s Eve. 

Our recipe and our plan for the next few weeks is straightforward: Keep using our layers of protection and following the orders and restrictions. If you are seeing others, stay small and it must be outside. ‘Few faces, open spaces and safety layers in place’ are what we need to put COVID-19 behind us.”

More notes on Thursday's  provincial  report can be reviewed here.  

BC CDC Data for BC For March 11 2021

BC CDC Data for Northern Health For March 11 2021

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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