UPDATE Fourth COVID-19 related death in Interior Health, 694 new cases in B.C.

Dec 3, 2020 | 3:16 PM Pete McIntyre

Another 12 people have died from COVID-19-related issues in B.C., raising the death toll to 481 since the pandemic started.

One of the deaths was in Interior Health (IH), a man in his 80s who was living at the Mountainview Village long-term care home in Kelowna.

IH president and CEO Susan Brown said they are saddened by the death, the first involving a long-term care resident in Interior Health.

“We offer our condolences to the family and caregivers during this difficult time. Interior Health will continue working closely with Mountainview’s administration and staff as we combat COVID-19 together. We all have a role to play to stop the spread in our communities, and I’m asking everyone to stick close to home right now and keep to your household. Limiting spread in our communities will help keep COVID-19 out of our long-term care facilities and help protect our most vulnerable.”

IH has 609 active cases, with 16 people in hospital, and four in intensive care.

Another 694 new cases were reported in B.C. Thursday, including 82 in Interior Health.

Of the new cases:

114 are in Vancouver Coastal Health
465 in Fraser Health
10 in Island Health
82 in Interior Health
23 in Northern Health

There are 12 new deaths for a total of 481.

There are 9,103 active cases, with 325 people in hospital and 80 in intensive or critical care.

Currently, 10,849 people are under active monitoring for COVID-19, and 24,928 people have recovered from the virus.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says seniors in long-term care homes and hospitals will be the first to get a vaccine against COVID-19 as the province rolls out an immunization program in the coming weeks.

Henry said Thursday health officials worked with their federal counterparts today on ways to facilitate the delivery of a vaccine as they anticipated various challenges that could come up in the immunization process.

She added limited amounts of a vaccine will be available at first, but more details about the plan will be provided next week.

In the meantime, Henry said everyone must stay committed to getting through the next few months, and noted that health-care workers are tired from the pandemic.

(With files from The Canadian Press)