Friday, April 23, 2021

Final COVID update for the week, brings us back to where the week began on Monday: Case counts over 1,000, concerns over variant spread and travel

To bring a week of worrisome COVID totals, additional burdens on health care and new measures to an end, the Friday statement from Doctor Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix resembled most of those that came along since Monday. 

Relaying notes on a case count over 1000, with concerns over variants still large and the need to reduce interactions across the province marked by action. 

“Today, we are reporting 1,001 new cases, for a total of 123,758 cases in British Columbia. 

There are 8,842 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, with 12,608 people under public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases. 

A further 113,139 people who tested positive have recovered. 

Of the active cases, 486 individuals are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 160 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.

There have been four new COVID-19 related deaths, for a total of 1,554 deaths in British Columbia. Our condolences are with the family, friends and caregivers of the people who have died as a result of COVID-19"

Across the Five Health Authority regions, the case count was as follows:  215 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 626 new cases in the Fraser Health region, 26 in the Island Health region, 93 in the Interior Health region.

There were 39 new cases recorded in the Northern Health region, which brings the total number of cases of COVID-19 in the North to 6,976 since January of 2020. 

The most recent data notes on the spread of variant cases of COVID can be found from the BC CDC website here.

The update on the vaccination program noted that 1,542,066 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines have been administered, 88,663 of which are second doses.


The Doctor and Health Minister made note of the announcement as well as part of their statement.

“Today, the Province has issued a new order to limit non-essential travel in B.C. Under the Emergency Program Act, non-essential travel is prohibited between three regional zones in the province, using health authority boundaries. These zones are the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley (Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health), Vancouver Island (Island Health) and the Interior and North (Interior and Northern Health). 

The message remains the same – by staying in our local communities, we will prevent the spread of this virus and move forward together to a time when it is behind us. 

With this order, the Province is also working with partners to increase highway signage along the border with Alberta, with BC Ferries to restrict non-essential vehicle passage and with tourism and accommodation industry associations to support operators and businesses in declining bookings from outside of their regional zones. 

Now is the time to stay close to home and to get vaccinated as soon as you are eligible, to keep yourself, your family and your community safe.”

The full COVID statement for Friday can be reviewed here



 BC CDC data for British ColumBbia for April 23, 2021


 BC CDC data for the Northern Health Region for April 23, 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


Ottawa Observations


Victoria Viewpoints

 




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