Health officials say BC is "at a precipice" with coronavirus cases
BC health officials presented new modelling data on Thursday, showing what the province has seen around dealing with coronavirus cases, and where it could potentially go.
During a press conference, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said that new data shows “we’ve been bouncing around, and we know we’ve had exposure events where there has been transmission to larger numbers of people, but we’ve also come down through measures that we’ve taken.”
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Right now in the province, she said, the infectious contact rate in the province is “around 65% of normal – somewhere in between the 60% scenario, and the 70% scenario. [It’s] something that we’re watching, because this gives us an idea at how well we’re doing at stopping those chains of transmission.”
She noted, however, that the model estimate of transmission has varied, suggesting the infection rate “is not stable.”
Government of BC
She also cautioned that “this is a moveable number,” and said “we still have it in our hands, in our actions, to bend our curve back down, and that is what we need to focus on now.”
And during her presentation, Henry stressed that BC is currently “at a precipice, where we need to take the actions to ensure that we can move forward into the fall and keep our curve low.”
Henry also said the data confirms an increase in cases in all age groups, notably 20-29 year-olds.
“We’ve been able to find our balance – keeping essential services and businesses going, while protecting our most vulnerable,” she said. “But new cases and clusters tell us there’s more work to do.”
Government of BC
The new modelling data came on the same day Henry and BC Health Minister Adrian Dix announced 89 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of known cases in the province to 6,041.
Broken down by health region, Henry said there have been 2,012 coronavirus cases in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 3,155 in the Fraser Health region, 178 in the Island Health region, 450 in the Interior Health region, 167 in the Northern Health region and 79 cases of people who reside outside of Canada.
Currently, there are 1,175 active cases in BC, as well as 2,801 people who are being monitored by public health due to identified exposure to known cases.
There are also 34 individuals who are currently hospitalized, 11 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining individuals with the virus are in self-isolation at home.
There has been one additional death in longterm care, bringing the total deaths in BC to 210.
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