Circuit breakers on; Case Counts remain high for BC COVID report

As British Columbians give some thought to the list of changes and new measures put in place on Monday towards the rising pace of COVID-19 cases, the virus once again sent word that it's not going anywhere just yet, with another day of new cases to match much of the last few weeks across the province.

And once again, the focus for review is found in two areas of the Lower Mainland where well more than two thirds of the cases of the day can be found.

Today's notes, by way of a statement from Doctor Bonnie Henry and Health Minster Adrian Dix also reviewed the factors that led to yesterdays 'circuit breakers'.

“Today, we are reporting 840 new cases, including 18 epi-linked cases, for a total of 99,035 cases in British Columbia. 

There are 7,062 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, with 11,164 people under public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases. A further 90,401 people who tested positive have recovered. 

Of the active cases, 312 individuals are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 78 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation. 

 There have been no new COVID-19 related deaths, for a total of 1,455 deaths in British Columbia."

Across the province, the regional health authority's broke the totals down as follows:

265 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 421 new cases in the Fraser Health region, 39 in the Island Health region, 67 in the Interior Health region, 

There were 46 new cases reported  in the Northern Health region, which brings the total number of  Northern BC cases of COVID to 5,944 to date since January of 2020.

Two new cases of COVID were reported for people in British Columbia who reside outside of Canada. 

Looking at the notes on variants, health officials note that there have been 320 new confirmed COVID-19 cases that are variants of concern in our province, for a total of 2,553 cases. Of the total cases, 313 are active and the remaining people have recovered. This includes 2,134 cases of the B.1.1.7 (U.K.) variant, 49 cases of the B.1.351 (South Africa) variant and 370 cases of the P.1 (Brazil) variant.

Towards the province's vaccination plan, the numbers  to date included, 724,193 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca-SII COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 87,319 of which are second doses. 

Doctor Henry also had some notes related to the plan ahead for the AstraZeneca vaccine, how it will be administered and where to go for more information if you have concerns related to it.

“The use of the AstraZeneca/COVISHIELD vaccine for those under 55 has been paused. If you are under 55, have received this vaccine and have questions about the signs and symptoms of this rare safety signal, visit the BC Centre for Disease Control 

And with the current surge in mind and the Easter period ahead of us, some thoughts from the health officials on the next few weeks in the province.

“We have seen the start of exponential growth of COVID-19 cases. To stop this upward trend from continuing, we are taking the necessary steps to protect our communities and get back on the path we want and need to be on. 

We are asking people for your help – particularly over the next three weeks – to push our curve back down again. This means staying small, staying outside and staying with our same group of close contacts. 

This also means not travelling for leisure or vacation outside of our local communities or regions because the risk for all of us is too great right now. 

We understand that the upcoming important religious holidays are often a time when we would normally get together with others to celebrate. This year, we need to ensure we are celebrating safely, which means not travelling to other communities and postponing those family dinners until it is safe to be together indoors again. 

As this pandemic continues, we join faith congregations around the globe in celebrating these important holidays in a different way this year so we will all still be here when we can finally safely come together again."

 Further notes on  Tuesday's  report can be reviewed here.   

BC CDC Data for BC For March 30 2021

BC CDC Data for Northern Health For March 30 2021

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

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