After two days of cases under 100, B.C. is reporting 148 new COVID-19 cases today, for a provincial total of 8,543 cases.
There were five new cases in the Interior Health Authority, taking the total to 520 cases – of which 34 are active with no one in hospital.
Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry says there are now 1,371 active cases of the virus, with 61 people in hospital, 20 of whom are in ICU. There were also two more deaths reported in the Fraser Health Authority, taking the death toll to 229 people
There are 3,417 people being actively monitored because of exposure to a known cases of the virus. A further 6,917 people now considered to have recovered from the virus.
Henry also said there have been no outbreaks reported in B.C. schools, though there have been about 30 exposure events to date.
“That is not surprising to me, we have around 2,000 schools around the province,” she said. “(Reporting exposures are) important because it provides public information that helps you understand what is happening in our school communities around the province.”
“It allows parents to know where exposures are and have confidence in knowing that if they have not been contacted their families have not had a risky exposure in school community.”
Across Interior Health, there have been cases at three schools in Invermere, Castlegar, and Rossland. There have been no cases in Kamloops-area schools.
With schools now back, Henry says it is even more important for people to stick to six close contacts, and to be aware of potential risks those contacts might have in their own lives.
“We know that if we are complacent and we let our guard down, this virus will a way to spread and it will spread to people that we care about, that we are closest to,” she added.
COVID-19 App Update
Dr. Henry says B.C. health officials are continuing to meet with the federal government as Ottawa rolls the COVID Alert app out one province at a time.
The app has been out for about two months but it is still not available in B.C., and Henry says the province is working to ensure that its own priorities can be included for the app.
About 2.7 million Canadians have downloaded the app to date. It is currently available in Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan.
