Health officials have reported a whopping 817 new COVID-19 cases in British Columbia over the weekend, including a single-day record of 317 cases from Friday to Saturday.
There were another 293 cases from Saturday to Sunday and another 207 new cases from Sunday to Monday.
With that, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry brought in a new public health order limiting gathering sizes in private homes to the number of people who live there plus six.
“That means no Halloween parties,” she added, noting this order will likely be in place into the new year. “That is a possibility that we will not have large family gatherings over Christmas.”
Henry says the province is seeing transmission because of household gatherings, including Thanksgiving celebrations that took place two weeks ago.
Thirty one of the weekend cases were in the Interior Health Authority which has now had 693 cases since the pandemic began. There are 86 active cases in the Interior with one person in hospital. By comparison, there were 665 in the Fraser Health and another 109 in Vancouver Coastal Health reported over the weekend.
There were also three new deaths in long term care reported taking the death toll to 259 people, with another 5,077 people actively being monitored after being exposed to COVID-19.
Active cases are up to a new record of 2,325, with now 77 people in hospital, 26 in ICU.
“This has been a sobering weekend,” Henry added. “It is concerning to us we continue to see growth in the Fraser Health region to be specific.”
Henry says every time a family member or friend tries to break provincial health guidelines, it puts everyone at risk, noting that over the past few weeks, people have not been following the rules and there has been transmission.
“We need to pay more attention to those settings where we have people coming together for celebrations,” she said. “This is going to be a challenge, more for some people than others. But this is something we need to do as a community.”
Two Schools Closed because of COVID-19
Henry also says two schools have been temporarily closed due to the impact of COVID-19 exposures on staffing.
One is Kelowna’s École de l’Anse-au-sable, where at least 11 cases have been confirmed. The other unnamed school is in the Fraser Health region. Both these schools will be closed for at least two weeks.
“We knew of course this would be a possibility, especially in the smaller schools where the potential of exposure impacts a larger proportion of the school population,” Henry said. “While the numbers of people with COVID are small, the requirement for those in contact to be in self isolation meant that the school can no longer safely operate.”
“The schools are working with the families to ensure that educational services can continue during this period.”
Henry adds the expectation for masks in indoor spaces doesn’t change the way the school plans are designed. Asked if the school plan is working, Henry says it is as cases are being detected early.
Masks Now Expected in Indoor Public Spaces
Henry also said it is now her ‘expectation’ that British Columbians wear non-medical masks in indoor public spaces to slow the spread of COVID-19, but she stopped short of making them mandatory.
“Its not an order because this is something that I know we support as part of our mutual responsibilities to protect ourselves and to protect each other,” she said. “Now is the time for all of us to work together while staying apart to slow the spread of COVID-19.”
Henry is asking also businesses to review their COVID safety plans with this new mask expectation in mind.
“If your employees are in high traffic areas or amongst many people outside of your household while at work, a mask can help protect you and those around you, and we need to wear them as we are going into this season,” she added.
“Together we will get through this winter. The vast majority of people in B.C., I thank you for doing what you have been doing and sticking with this, even though it is hard because this is what will help us as we get through the next few months.”
To date, 13,371 people have had confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the province. About 80 per cent – 10,734 – are now considered to have recovered.