Friday update: 139 new cases of Covid-19

Sep 18, 2020 | 3:45 PM Pete McIntyre

Another 139 people have come down with COVID-19 in British Columbia.

Health Minister Adrian Dix and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry reported that number in a statement issued Friday.

“Today, we are announcing 139 new cases, including seven epi-linked cases. We are also reporting 40 historic cases that were tested between Aug. 11 and Sept. 16 for people who did not have personal health numbers. All these cases have been previously investigated and managed by Vancouver Coastal Health, but had not been entered into the data system. This brings our total to 7,842 cases in British Columbia,” said the statement.

Of the new cases, three are in the Interior Health (IH) region.

There are 25 active cases in IH with one person in hospital.

There are 1,803 active cases in the province, 3,075 people who are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases and 5,797 people who tested positive have recovered.

There are 59 people in hospital with COVID-19, with 20 of those in intensive care.

There have been three new COVID-related deaths, for a total of 223 deaths in the province.

There have been no new health-care facility outbreaks and the outbreak at Royal Arch Masonic Home long-term care facility (second outbreak) has been declared over. In total, 10 long-term care or assisted-living facilities and five acute-care facilities have active outbreaks.

There have been no new community outbreaks.

Henry and Dix said the cases we are seeing today are a direct result of how some people spent their Labour Day long weekend.

“We need to push the COVID-19 curve back down and we have the knowledge, the tools and resources to do just that. Always using your layers of protection and choosing to stick with your ‘safe six’ will help all of us this weekend and every weekend ahead,” said the health officials.

Case counts by health region:

2,817 Vancouver Coastal
4,007 Fraser
196 Island
492 Interior
244 Northern
86 people who reside outside Canada