Tuesday BC Update brings Public Health Emergency declaration by Public Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry

With duties of reporting an additional 83 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the British Columbia total to 186, along with the sad news of three more patients having passed away, Dr. Bonnie Henry, the Provincial Health Officer and Health Minister Adrian Dix laid out the process of putting in place a Public Health Emergency in the province on Tuesday afternoon.

“This steep increase in the number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases in B.C. is in large part a result of consolidating data this week as our reporting process aligns with the increase in the number of tests that is now taking place in five sites around the province. We anticipate this will level off. 

The provincial health officer has declared a public health emergency. This is an additional step to ensure our province has more tools available to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

This declaration enables the provincial health officer to facilitate an even faster response to the rapidly changing situation and enact further measures to protect British Columbians, such as enforcement of orders limiting public gatherings of 50 people or more."

With the new edict, the province has closed all bars, pubs and night clubs that cannot adequately meet the requirements of social distancing, as well as to remind British Columbians that any gathering of over 50 people, whether indoors or outdoors must be cancelled.

The days totals outlined the scope of the Spread of COVID-19 which now has cases reported as follow:

Vancouver Coastal Region 116 cases
Fraser Health Care Region 47 cases
Vancouver Island Health Care Region 12 cases
Interior Health Care Region 7 cases
Northern Health Care Region 4 cases

Today's statement also reviewed elements related to COVID-19 testing, travel protocols and the importance of social distancing.

The full information statement and additional guidelines can be reviewed here.

The BC Centre for Disease control has some valuable Coronavirus notes related to COVID-19 you can explore that information here.

You can learn more about the outbreak from both the Province and the Federal government from the links below:

Federal Government site

British Columbia Government site

The World Health Organization website also offers up the latest advisories on the global situation.

More from  Northern Health can be reviewed here 

You can review our archive of past statements and local information here.

Local governments and organizations have also provided for increased awareness of COVID-19 issues, the string of statements that came quickly at the end of the week can be reviewed here.

For notes from across Canada and British Columbia we have been archiving the latest items through our political portal Darcy McGee

Ottawa Observations

Victoria Viewpoints

For items of interest from Northern Health see our archive page here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.