Surge continues with 762 new cases, 10 more deaths on the day; prospects of additional measures to tackle COVID loom as early as Thursday

The rapid rise in cases of COVID reported in British Columbia continued today, with a new most cases in one day level met with the announcement of 762 cases recorded over the last 24 hours, along with an increase in hospitalizations and use of Intensive Care Units in BC

The update for Wednesday came by way of a written statement from Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix.

“Today, we are reporting 762 new cases of COVID-19, including three epi-linked cases, for a total of 24,422 cases in British Columbia. 

There are 6,861 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. Currently, 209 individuals are hospitalized with COVID-19, 58 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation. 

There are 9,871 people under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases and 16,914 people who tested positive have recovered. 

There have been 10 new COVID-19 related deaths, for a total of 320 deaths in British Columbia. We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic."

Across the different Health Authorities the Wednesday totals were as follows: 210 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 481 in the Fraser Health region, 20 in the Island Health region, 38 in the Interior Health region, 13 in the Northern Health region, which moves the Northern Health total since January to 553 cases of COVID recorded.

No new cases of COVID were reported over the last 24 hours from  people who reside outside of Canada.

With the Second surge continuing on with its rapid pace, Dr. Henry and Minister Dix reinforced the message that there is a need to slow the rise of the curve down, something which will require commitment from everyone in the province. 

“We have seen a rising number of new cases of COVID-19 across the province and we need to slow this down. We need to put the brakes on the virus and doing this requires a sustained effort by all of us. 

This second surge is putting a strain on our health-care system, our workplaces and us all. We need to ease this pressure so we can continue to manage the virus in our province and also continue to do the many activities that are important to us. 

While your personal efforts may seem small or having little impact, the collective benefit to every community in every region is significant. Our safety layers are there to help protect us and they work best when we are all using them, all of the time. 

Now is the time to stay small, stay local and do your part – at home, work, school and in your community.”

 You can review the Wednesday COVID update here. 

Todays information statement sets the stage for what is expected to be some significant announcements from Dr Henry and Adrian Dix, those are expected to be delivered when they hold the next live briefing set for Thursday afternoon.

Earlier today, Premier John Horgan offered up some thoughts on the current state of the COVID situation and telegraphed some of the potential measures that may be coming to the province in the course of the next 24 hours.

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, those past advisories  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 

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.