Prince Rupert COVID outbreak on the radar for provincial Health Officials, including Doctor Bonnie Henry

The current surge of cases of COVID on the North Coast received a brief mention in today's provincial briefing on the latest case counts province wide, with Doctor Bonnie Henry observing that some form of measures may be on the way for the Prince Rupert area to help address the ongoing spread of the coronavirus.

As part of todays briefing the Provincial Health Officer relayed some details on the growing volume of vaccines being delivered to the province and seems to have telegraphed that those increased deliveries may have a role in addressing the current community outbreak found in this community.

While speaking to the arrival of more vaccines in the province, Doctor Henry also made note of the large number of cases in Prince Rupert in recent weeks and how the province is keeping watch on the ongoing situation on the North Coast. 

"In terms of vaccine as well , we know we have increased shipments of Pfizer that was announced on Friday, we will be receiving more of PfizerBioNTech in Canada and here in BC in this month of March, and that is very good news and we are expecting our shipment of the AstraZeneca Serum Institute of India Vaccine to arrive in BC in the next day or two.

 And As you know we've talked about the importance of using these increased volumes right now, to address where we are seeing significant outbreaks and community transmission. 

 And one of those areas in Northern Health that will be addressed in coming days is the ongoing transmission and increasing cases in Prince Rupert"

The Doctor did not expand further on the Prince Rupert reference during her presentation. 

As we outlined last week, Prince Rupert's reports of positive case counts have seen a dramatic rise in the last three weeks, with last Wednesday finding the city host to 73 cases of COVID-19, making it by far the largest number of cases of the communities of the Northwest.

On Friday, we noted how the lack of information from Northern Health regarding the steady rise in community spread of the virus had become somewhat of a talking point in the community.

If there is more to hear on Doctor Henry's comments from Monday, Northern Health will be the ones to follow up with further background on the plans moving forward.

Doctor Henry's brief mention of the Prince Rupert situation came at the 13 minute mark of the Provincial Briefing this afternoon.

For more notes on the ongoing provincial response to COVID see our archive page here.

Notes on health care across the Northern Health Authority can be found here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.