British Columbians are about to bring an end to the summer of 2020 and perhaps that isn't but a moment too soon, as the daily numbers of August continued with their upward trends, this past weekend delivering 194 new cases of COVID-19 making for 1100 active cases and an increase in hospitalizations.
The weekend overview was delivered by Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix this afternoon, with the Public Health Officer for the Province observing that the time is once again here to begin reducing our social interactions, that as a way towards reducing the impact of a potential second wave of the coronavirus and other challenges ahead.
“Today, we are providing case updates for three 24-hour reporting periods. In the first reporting period from August 28 to 29, we had 86 new cases, from August 29 to 30, we had 107 new cases and in the last 24 hours, we have had a further 101 new cases."
This represents 294 new cases, including three epi-linked cases, since we reported on Friday, for a total of 5,790 cases in British Columbia.
There are 1,107 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, 2,723 people who are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases, and 4,466 people who tested positive have recovered.
Currently, 28 individuals are hospitalized with COVID-19, 10 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation."
The cross province break down found additions in all of the Health Authorities across BC this weekend.
1,900 cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 3,042 in the Fraser Health region, 175 in the Island Health region, 440 in the Interior Health region, 154 in the Northern Health region an increase of twelve since Friday.
79 cases of COVID have been recorded in the province from people people who reside outside of Canada.
“There have been four new COVID-19 related deaths, for a total of 208 deaths in British Columbia. We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic.You can review the full COVID 19 report for Monday 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
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| A look at the proposed footprint for the fibre optic project known as the Connected Coast Project, a partnership between CityWest and the Strathcona Regional District on Vancouver Island (Map from Connected Coast Project) |
After a fair bit of silence on its progress of late, Prince Rupert based CityWest and the Strathcona Regional District on Vancouver Island have issued a Request for Proposals for the much anticipated Connected Coast Project, with the two organizations seeking out the services of a contractor towards the ambitious fibre optic communication infrastructure development.
That work will see a fibre optic backbone put in place between Prince Rupert, to northern and central Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii as well as a network connection to Vancouver.
The RFP was posted to the BC Bid website on Friday afternoon and highlights the key elements of the project, one which will provide for additional fibre optic redundancy for internet users in Prince Rupert and along the CityWest network in Northwest BC.
The addition of a second source for communication services, will serve to ensure that Northwest users will be better protected from potential outages along the current network as was seen earlier this year.
Towards the development of that new fibre optic backbone, CityWest has created a subsidiary company, to be known as CityWest Connected Coast Network Corporation, which will construct and operate its section of the Connected Coast project.
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Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
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| It's been a summer of infrastructure challenges for the City of Prince Rupert |
Motorists along the McBride/First Avenue roadways can finally make use of all the travel space of the city's roads, that after the City's Public Works Department put the finishing touches on a lengthy bit of infrastructure repair underneath the pavement of the downtown core near the Court House.
The work came to an end late last week with paving the final bit or repair to take place before the roadway was reopened to the public after a period of just under two months.
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| Before and After work on infrastructure issues below McBride St. |
And while the City can celebrate the wrap on that project, as we outlined earlier this month, the other long running repair work at the Intersection of Fulton and Sixth Avenue West seems destined to carry on for a period of time yet.
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| The intersection work at Fulton and Sixth will continue on into September and beyond |
Over the course of the last few weeks the city has dug up significantly more roadway than it has repaired at the Fulton location, advising the public that the work on that particular infrastructure issue may be a bit more of a long term one.
Those who manage to navigate the off road like course set up around the Fulton intersection however aren't quite out of the woods on their travels.
Just a few blocks west of that site the road again poses challenges with some suspension testing holes in the road along Summit, those however seem soon to be addressed as the city's summer paving program moves into the home stretch into September.
For more items of note on infrastructure see our archive page here.
Further themes from City Council can be explored through our Council Discussion archive.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
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| AltaGas Ridley Island Propane Export Terminal |
With the pace of production and shipments at the Ridley Island Propane Export Terminal delivering impressive results to date in 2020, Alberta bases AltaGas has found success with a second request of the Canadian Energy Regulator to export an additional 46,000 barrels per day of propane out of their Prince Rupert facility.
The initial application to seek the second level of propane shipments was submitted in November of 2019, the process delivering the positive assent on August 21st.
A number of health protocols have been put in place for residents in the Nass Valley and for those who may have travelled into the area between August 17th to 28th that after the announcement of a suspected COVID-19 exposure in the region.
The advisory issued on Saturday notes that all attendees of a funeral/feast for a community member between August 21 and 25th should contact the NVHA clinic in their area, as well as to notify their respective Village government chief Administrator, as well as to self isolate.
The Nisga'a Lisims Government had already put in place significant travel restrictions through the summer towards keeping the spread of COVID-19 in check in the Nisga'a Nation.
Officials have added on to those guidelines in the wake of yesterday's advisory.
The full list of important information related to the advisory can be explored here.
More items of interest on the Nisga'a Nation can be explored here.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
