There are now 2,360 cases of COVID-19 in B.C., after health officials announced seven new cases Tuesday.
According to provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, there are 874 cases in Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), 1,124 in Fraser Health, 125 on Vancouver Island, 180 in Interior Health and 57 in Northern Health.
There are no new outbreaks in a long-term care facilities. Currently, there are 19 active outbreaks in long-term facilities. 19 outbreaks have been declared over, including the Lynn Valley Care Centre, which was one of the first major outbreaks. There are 295 residents affected and 187 staff.
There are no new community outbreaks to report.
There are 17 positive cases of COVID-19 connected to the Kearl Lake plant in Alberta and additional family members. Anyone who is returning from the plant is asked to self-isolate for 14 days.
There has been one new death, for a total of 131 fatalities in the province.
There are currently 63 people in acute care in hospital and 16 are in critical care.
1,832 people have fully recovered and are no longer in isolation.
Henry underscored that COVID-19 has not gone away, and that our forward approach must be safe, practical and sustainable in the long-term so that we don't have to go back. She notes that business owners should do what is right for their employees, customers and themselves. While some businesses will take longer to open, others may not open for many months. As such, customers must be patient through the weeks and months ahead.
"Our playbook for the pandemic has the 'rules' all of us must learn and follow." Keeping these top of mind will allow us to keep progressing through BC's Restart Plan:
- Maintain physical distancing outside your household. For example, no handshaking or hugging, keeping your number of contacts low and keeping a safe distance.
- Practise good hygiene – hand hygiene, avoid touching your face and respiratory etiquette.
- Stay at home and away from others if you are feeling ill. That means staying home from school, work or socializing.
- Make necessary contact safer with appropriate controls, e.g., using plexiglass barriers or redesigning spaces.
- Increase cleaning of frequently touched surfaces at home and work.
- Consider using non-medical masks in situations where physical distancing cannot be maintained, such as on transit or while shopping.
- Continue to minimize non-essential personal travel.
- Stay informed, be prepared and follow public health advice.
Earlier this month, Premier Horgan unveiled B.C.'s new guidelines to re-open the provincial economy. B.C.'s economy will restart in four phases, with the first order of business being the resumption of elective surgeries, personal care services, like dentistry, hair salons, retail and the reopening of provincial parks for day use starting in mid-May.
But concerts, conventions and other large gatherings -- phase four – could continue to be banned for one to two years, as their resumption are contingent on a vaccine being developed, the development of herd immunity or a new drug to treat the COVID-19 virus.
This article originally appeared here.
