The largest COVID-19 outbreak at a B.C. food-processing facility, Coquitlam's Superior Poultry Processing Ltd., has been declared over and the plant has been given the go-ahead to open, given that it has passed a two-week incubation period. There remain 61 active cases related to the facility.
Seven positive cases remain at Chilliwack's Fraser Valley Specialty Poultry, while 35 cases remain at United Poultry in Vancouver.
B.C.'s provincial health officer Bonnie Henry said May 14 that there are 15 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, and a total of 2,392 people infected since the first case came to light on January 28.
That translates into a recovery rate that is up slightly compared with yesterday, at 78.8%, or 1,885 people.
The breakdown of cases by health region is:
• 878 in Vancouver Coastal Health (up one in the past day);
• 1,149 in Fraser Health (up 12 in the past day);
• 126 in Island Health (up one in the past day);
• 181 in Interior Health (up one in the past day); and
• 58 in Northern Health (up one in the past day).
The number of people who are hospitalized continues to fall, as there are now 58 people in hospital, down one from yesterday. There are 12 people now in acute care units, down two from yesterday.
The breakdown of people in hospital by health region is:
• 21 in Vancouver Coastal Health;
• 33 in Fraser Health;
• 1 in Island Health;
• 1 in Interior Health; and
• 2 in Northern Health.
"What that [hospitalization data] indicates is, again, that that number is continuing to slowly come down, and broadly we see that as a positive thing," said Health Minister Adrian Dix.
"The occupancy rate in our hospitals has continued to go up, again, slightly, indicating increased utilization of healthcare services for reasons other than COVID-19."
Three people have died in the past 24 hours from the virus that spawned the global pandemic, for a total of 135 people who have died.
B.C. hospitals' occupancy rate is now 67.1%, compared with about 103% before the pandemic, so a significant number of beds remain on reserve in case there is a sudden spike in the number of infected people who need hospital care. The occupancy rate in intensive care units across the province is 52.3%.
The province plans to restart many of the scheduled surgeries that were postponed because of the pandemic, and Dix said that 6,884 people have been contacted since May 7, when Dix outlined his road map for getting surgical procedures back to normal.
The pandemic prompted the government to postpone about 14,000 surgeries as of May 7, while an additional 16,000 would have been scheduled but were not because the government wanted to ensure that there were sufficient empty hospital beds to accommodate any potential spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations. A further 24,000 patients may have also needed surgeries but could not be referred to a waiting list because they were not able to see specialist doctors as a result of the pandemic.
Seniors' homes and care facilities have so far combined to be a huge source of cases of the virus. An even 500 people, including 309 residents and 191 staff, have been infected in those homes. There are 15 seniors' homes where there remain active outbreaks, and four acute-care facilities. One seniors' home outbreak has been declared over in the past 24 hours: MSA Manor in the Fraser Health Region.
