There were 1,933 confirmed new cases of COVID-19 in B.C. since Friday, and 17 deaths.
"The majority of these people were seniors and elders in long-term care," provincial health officer Bonnie Henry said Monday at the regular press briefing on the pandemic.
And she suggested things could get worse as winter comes.
"As we move into winter, the virus spreads more easily," said Henry.
There are currently 277 people with COVID-19 in hospital and 59 in intensive care with 11 of the overall cases epi-linked.
As a result of the increasing cases, Henry has recently announced a number of new province-wide restrictions for the next two weeks. The details of the new restrictions can be found here.
"Over the next two weeks, we need to urgently reduce the level of transmission in our province to keep our schools and work places open, and relieve that very real stress we are seeing right now on our health care system," Henry said.
New restrictions will affect movie theatres and events held in bars. Some Christmas themed events may be at risk. It depends on what the transmission rates do over the next two weeks.
Henry has ordered many public events cancelled until Dec. 7. The exceptions are weddings, funerals, and baptisms, though the gatherings must be less than 10 people and no celebrations are to be held afterwards. But events held in bars, restaurants, hotels, art galleries and movies theatres are to be cancelled until December 7.
That doesn't mean bars and art galleries can't remain open—it just means they can't hold events that draw large gatherings, like art exhibition openings or live bands in bars.
The restrictions mean that certain Christmas themed events, like the holiday train at Stanley Park and Butchart Gardens lights display, may end up being cancelled. Henry said this will be determined as the Dec. 7 deadline draws closer and she sees how the province in doing in flattening the curve on COVID-19.
On a positive note, the number of British Columbians getting the annual flu vaccine this year has increased about eightfold this year—to about 808,000, compared to 118,025 last year.
There have been six new outbreaks in long-term and acute care facilities since Friday:
- Lions Gate Hospital
- North Peace Seniors Housing
- Queenspark Care Centre
- CareLife Fleetwood
- Sunset Manor
- Renfrew Care Centre
Outbreaks have been declared over at the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital and Evergreen Baptist Care Society.
Here are the daily numbers for Monday, November 23, with numbers for the last reporting period, Friday, November 20, in brackets:
New cases: 1,933 (516)
BC Total: 27,407 (25,474)
Active cases: 7,360 (7,122)
Recovered: 19,069 (17,477)
Hospitalized: 277 (227)
Intensive care: 59 (57)
Deaths: 348 (331)
Confirmed cases by region:
Vancouver Coastal Health: 414
Fraser Health: 1,304
Island Health: 48
Interior Health: 104
Northern Health: 61
The original article appeared here.
