‘We’re not quite there yet:’ Dr. Henry says too soon to ease Covid restrictions
B.C.’s top doctor says the province is not ready to relax the current public health restrictions, but some changes will be considered next month.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer, told a Covid-19 update on Thursday, indicators like the seven-day case average have come up a bit in the last two weeks, with most of the growth in the Lower Mainland.
The weekly average of the percentage of positive daily tests has also crept up to 6.7 per cent in B.C., which is higher in some areas, including 8.0 per cent in the Fraser Health, and 11.5 per cent in Northern Health.
Henry said the status of those indicators along with the new variant cases and rates of transmission will determine when restrictions can be eased.
“But we are not quite there yet. We re looking ahead into March to make sure we know when we can increase our social interactions in a limited way, when we can have safe religious services again, and safely increase things like youth sports,” Henry stated.
Henry announced 395 new cases today and 10 deaths (1,348 total), with 24 new cases in Interior Health (IH) which had five new deaths, first reported by IH on Wednesday.
Henry reported 16 new Covid-19 variant cases for a total of 116, with 95 of the United Kingdom variant and 21 of the South African.
There are nine active variant cases, and one case associated with a Nigerian variant is under investigation.
Two of the variant cases are in Interior Health, with 71 in Fraser Health, 39 in Vancouver Coastal, four in Island Health and none in Northern Health.
“We are paying special attention to people who are infected with these variants so we better understand the transmission patterns and the impact they are having, which helps inform any changes we may need to make,” Henry said.
New cases by health region:
- 86 Vancouver Coastal Health
- 207 Fraser Health
- 37 Island Health
- 24 Interior Health
- 41 Northern Health
Health Minister Adrian Dix said case counts and hospitalizations rose significantly after Christmas in Interior Health, but those numbers have now come down.
“It shows what we can do together as communities,” Dix commented.
There are 4,489 active cases, with 228 people in hospital and 62 in critical or intensive care.
Currently, 7,931 people are under monitor after possible exposure to Covid, with 72,781 people are considered recovered from the virus
As of today, 239,833 doses of Covid vaccines have been administered in B.C., with 68,157 of those second doses.