Slight uptick on COVID cases heading into weekend; but progress has BC bullish on removing more measures into summer

As British Columbians head into the final weekend before a number of COVID measures are removed as part of the BC Restart plan, a slight change in direction for the COVID count today, as the tally inched upwards for the first time in a number of days, recorded at 180 on the day. 

The Friday figure, a bit of a fly in the ointment of the week of success of pushing down the curve that has just been achieved. 

Still with hospitalizations and active cases still declining, health officials continue to note that with the vaccination program moving at its current pace, the trends for the most part are all going in the right direction at the moment.

The Friday update came by way of a statement from Doctor Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix.

“We have had 180 new cases of COVID-19, including five epi-linked cases, for a total of 146,176 cases in British Columbia. 

There are currently 1,880 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and a further 142,526 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 162 individuals are currently hospitalized, 45 of whom are in intensive care. 

The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation. 

There has been one new COVID-19 related death, for a total of 1,730 deaths in British Columbia. Our condolences are with the family, friends and caregivers of the people who have died as a result of COVID-19."

Across the province, the Friday case count noted the following results from regional health authority's: 11 are in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 107 are in the Fraser Health region, 13 are in the Island Health region, and 39 are in the Interior Health region.

There were 10 new cases recorded in the Northern Health region.

British Columbia passed the 75% mark for first vaccinations, while total second shots now total just under half a million residents  “Today, we are reporting that 75.1% of all adults in B.C. and 73.1% of those 12 and older have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. In total, 3,893,581 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 497,932 of which are second doses."

The message of a slow return to more normal activities was the final bit of advice for the week, with a nod towards the gradual reduction of measures ahead through the BC Restart plan.

“As long as we increase our contacts in a slow and measured way, register and get fully vaccinated, and continue to use our layers of protection, we can confidently move forward with BC’s Restart plan. “What we have seen is that getting fully immunized with your first and second doses of COVID-19 vaccine is making the difference, helping to dramatically slow the spread in our communities.

Next week Premier Horgan is expected to join Doctor Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix as they review the success of the last month and outline how that will be reflected in the path forward over the summer.

The full statement for Friday can be reviewed here. 

BC CDC data for British Columbia for Friday June 11th

BC CDC data for the Northern Health Region  for Friday June 11th

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

Ottawa Observations

Victoria Viewpoints