The health region including Whistler recorded 32 new lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 last week, according to the BC Centre for Disease Control.
Comprising Whistler, Pemberton, Squamish, Lions Bay and parts of the southern Stl’atl’mx Nation, the Howe Sound health region tallied a total of 1,406 cases between Jan. 1, 2020 and Feb. 28, 2021.
There has been no Whistler-specific update on case numbers this week, which Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) had been sending out in recent weeks as the resort contended with an outbreak. Notably, VCH does not typically share numbers in small communities when the caseload falls under a certain threshold in order to protect medical privacy.
The health authority’s most recent update for Whistler, on March 4, said the resort recorded 18 new cases between Feb. 22 and 28, 26 cases the week prior, and 56 the week before that.
Last week’s bulletin also noted that Whistler had tallied 720 cases since Jan. 1, of which 699 had recovered.
Meanwhile, provincewide, B.C. continues to record an average of more than 500 cases a day. On March 11, the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring the novel coronavirus a global pandemic, B.C. health officials said another 569 people were diagnosed with the virus in the past day, for a total of 86,219 cases since the fist case was detected in the province in January 2020. Of those, 79,829 individuals, or 92.5 per cent, have recovered.
B.C.’s COVID death total is at 1,397.
There are also 4,912 people in the province battling active infections, the highest number since Jan. 12.
Yesterday also marked a significant change in B.C.’s COVID protocols, with provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announcing that the order on gatherings had been amended to allow for outdoor get-togethers of up to 10 people.
Vaccinations are set to begin in Whistler, Pemberton and Squamish on March 15 for seniors aged 80 and up and people of Indigenous descent aged 65 and up. Immunization appointments can be booked by calling 1-877-587-5767. The phone line is open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
