There are now 617 cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in B.C., after health officials announced 78 new cases Tuesday.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry reports that there are 330 cases in Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), 194 in Fraser Health, 44 on Vancouver Island, 41 in Interior Health and 9 in Northern Health.
There are also two additional long-term care homes that are involved in outbreaks in the Lower Mainland. The two new facilities are Little Mountain Place in Vancouver Coastal Health and Evergreen Heights in Fraser Health.
The Lynn Valley Care Centre has 42 residents and 21 staff that have tested positive, while a single resident and staff have tested positive at Holly Burn. There is an increase at the Haro Park Lodge to 15 residents cases and 25 staff cases. Delta View and Dufferin care centres each have a single case, while one person has tested positive at the German Canadian House.
There are currently 59 people in hospital and 23 are in intensive care. There are no additional deaths, so the number of provincial total is still at 13.
"The good new is 173 people have fully recovered from COVID-19," she remarked."That's 28 per cent of our total cases."
Henry notes that this means that most people, particularly who are young and have mild illness, are recovering from this virus at home.
"Once you've recovered from this, you have immunity for a period of time," added Henry.
In regard to the rate of fatalities in B.C., Henry notes that most of the province's deaths have been related to the Lynn Valley Care Centre.
Henry also mentions that people who may have came into contact with the individual who passed away from COVID-19 after attending the Pacific Dental Conference were contacted and told to self-isolate. There are now 32 people that have been linked to the conference, and everyone was asked to self-isolate if they attended the conference.
Any professional who falls under the Regulated Health Professions Act, which includes dentists, chiropractors, physicians, and massage therapists, have been asked to minimize physical contact and provide emergency services only.
The focus on testing has also been moved to identifying cases where the source is unknown, such as in community spread.
"To be clear, we are absolutely testing and contact tracing anybody for whom we don't know the source of their infection," she states.
For anyone who comes into the country and falls ill, Henry recommends that they stay home rather than risk infecting someone else. Of course, if their symptoms are severe they should still seek medical attention.
"We know the source of infection for anyone coming from outside of Canada," notes Henry. "We assume they have the virus and ask them to self-isolate for 14 days."
"We don't need them to come in for testing."
Henry also reinforced the importance of social distancing while still remaining relationships via technology.
Last week, Henry noted that people should consult the new online assesment tool if they aren't sure if they require further testing or assessment for COVID-19. She also underscored the importance of physical distancing, hand washing, covering your mouth if you cough, not touching your face and staying home if you are sick.
