B.C. breaks daily COVID-19 record for two straight days as second wave swells

VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) — B.C. broke the daily COVID-19 record the second straight day Friday with close to 600 new cases.

The province announced 589 new cases — surpassing the previous record of 425 set the day before — as well as two deaths. A daily case record was also set on Sunday, when 389 cases were recorded.

Of the new cases Friday, 402 — or 68 per cent — are in the Fraser Health region. Another 146 — or 25 per cent — are in the Vancouver Coastal Health region.

Fraser Health has 402 new cases with 146 more in Vancouver Coastal Health, 24 in the Interior, 5 on Vancouver Island, 12 in Northern Health and none linked to people who reside outside Canada.

Overall recovery rate has dropped to 76% from 77.3 Thursday.#bcpoli @NEWS1130

— Marcella Bernardo (@Bernardo1130) November 6, 2020

New outbreaks have also been declared at four more health-care facilities, as well as at the Royal Inland Hospital construction site in Kamloops, while those were confirmed at Ridge Meadows and Langley Memorial hospitals.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, in a joint statement with Health Minister Adrian Dix, asks businesses to review their COVID-19 safety plans to ensure every step is being taken to protect everyone.

“Keeping businesses open is important to all of us and we can all take confidence in knowing the vast majority of businesses are doing all they can to keep their employees and customers safe throughout the province. This has allowed us to have as much as possible open in our communities during the COVID-19 pandemic,” she adds.

“As we have done with many sectors, public health teams are continually reviewing guidance and working with individual business owners to help navigate the challenges of COVID-19 and continue to operate safely.”

Henry also says when exposures and transmission rise in a particular sector, more inspections are conducted to identify gaps. Safety measures can be increased “only if it is clearly demonstrated that a business or sector is unable to operate safely are businesses ordered to close.”

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She adds employees and customers can help businesses to stay open by staying away if you are feeling unwell, using a mask when indoors, and not asking businesses or their employees to bend health and safety rules.

“We have one COVID-19 curve in B.C., and we all have a role to play to get through this storm and push our curve back down.”

Cases in B.C. now total 17,149, while deaths increased to 275.

Of the new cases, 24 were in the Interior Health region, while 12 were in Northern Health, and five on Vancouver Island.

One new community outbreak is at the construction site for a new patient tower at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops.

At least 7 cases so far, but no confirmation of any transmission to hospital staff/patients and no stop work order issued to delay construction of $417M project.

— Marcella Bernardo (@Bernardo1130) November 7, 2020

Of 3,741 active cases, 104 people are in hospital, while 28 are in intensive care.

Another 7,887 people are under active public health monitoring as a result of being exposure to known cases.

The other health-care outbreaks are at Suncreek Village in Surrey, Fort Langley Seniors Community, Northcrest Care Centre in Delta, and the PATH unit at Fellburn Care Centre in Burnaby.

Henry and Dix have called a rare weekend news conference for tomorrow at 1 p.m.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister @adriandix not talking to media today, but they will at 1pm Saturday.

Meanwhile, a new texting service is in place for @CDCofBC to notify you if you’ve tested positive or negative for #COVID19.#bcpoli @NEWS1130

— Marcella Bernardo (@Bernardo1130) November 7, 2020

Meanwhile, the BC Centre for Disease Control has a new texting service for COVID-19 cases. British Columbians can sign up to receive text notification of both positive or negative test results, in addition to test results being available through Health Gateway and other online portals.