122 new cases of COVID-19 in B.C.

Sep 16, 2020 | 3:14 PM Pete McIntyre

Another triple digit increase in new COVID-19 cases in B.C.

Health Minister Adrian Dix and provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry announced on Wednesday 122 new cases for a total of 7,498 cases.

Six of the new cases are in Interior Health (485 total).

There are 1,614 active cases, 2,966 people who are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases and 5,646 people who tested positive have recovered.

Currently, 60 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, with 23 of those in intensive care.

There have been no new COVID-19 related deaths, for a total of 219 deaths in B.C.

There have been no new health-care facility outbreaks and no new community outbreaks.

Beginning today, the BCCDC website is providing a link to regional health authorities’ school notification pages, providing the date and type of notification (outbreak, cluster or exposure) for impacted schools. Fraser Health’s school notification page is available now and the other regional health authorities will have theirs ready soon.

“As we learn more and better understand where the risks exist, we will continue to adjust our COVID-19 approach and response in B.C. to protect those who are most vulnerable. This is our priority for not only COVID-19, but the second equally concerning pandemic of overdose deaths,” said Henry and Dix.

Interior Health said its exposure page is under development and could be up as early as Thursday (Sept. 17), but before the end of the week for sure.

It will resemble the agency’s current community exposures page.

A new provincial health officer order has been put in place to increase the number of health professionals authorized to provide safer alternatives to the toxic drug supply.

“This new order is about connecting more people to treatment and doing all we can to save lives by supporting people who use drugs to do so safely,” said Henry.

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 2,660 cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 3,835 in the Fraser Health region, 195 in the Island Health region, 485 in the Interior Health region, 237 in the Northern Health region and 85 cases of people who reside outside of Canada.