VICTORIA – Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, and Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, have issued the following joint statement regarding updates on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) response in British Columbia:

“Today, we are reporting 738 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, for a total of 29,086 cases in British Columbia.

“There are 7,816 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. There are 294 individuals currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 61 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.

“Currently, 10,270 people are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases and 19,814 people who tested positive have recovered.

“Since yesterday, we have had 169 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 443 in the Fraser Health region, 21 in the Island Health region, 70 in the Interior Health region, 35 in the Northern Health region and no new cases of people who reside outside of Canada.

“We are also reporting a data correction in the daily case numbers in the Fraser Health region. Due to an error in the transfer of data from a lab to the health authority, there were errors in the new cases reported from Nov. 17-24. The data has been reviewed and authenticated.

“There have been 13 new COVID-19 related deaths, for a total of 371 deaths in British Columbia. We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have had no new health-care facility outbreaks and the outbreaks at Royal Columbian Hospital and Agassiz Seniors Community are over. There have been no new community outbreaks and the outbreak at MSJ Distribution at Valhalla is over.

“Today, we are very pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Ross Brown, vice-president pandemic from Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, to oversee our COVID-19 vaccine operations in British Columbia. Brown’s biography can be found here: http://www.vch.ca/about-us/leadership/senior-executive-team/dr-ross-brown

“As part of our provincewide COVID-19 response, the minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General has put a new order in place to enable enforcement of the mandatory use of masks in all indoor public spaces.

“A comprehensive list of the locations where the order applies, as well as the individuals who are exempt from this order is available at: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2020EMBC0061-001960

“It is important to remember that while masks are now required in many locations, not everyone is able to wear a mask. If you see someone without a mask, understand that while we are all in the same storm, each of our circumstances is unique.

“This virus is putting a strain on all of us, which is why compassion and care for others is so important right now.

“COVID-19 has meant that we all have to work a little bit harder to connect in a safe way and ensure our family, friends and neighbours know they are not alone and have the support they may need.

“Let’s work together to slow the spread of this virus and ease the strain we are all feeling by doing our part today.”

Learn More:

To learn more about the data correction, visit: http://news.gov.bc.ca/files/Data_correction_for_daily_reported_COVID-19_cases_Nov_25_2020.pdf

For more information on overdoses, visit: https://www.stopoverdose.gov.bc.ca

People in BC experiencing violence can access VictimLink, a toll-free, confidential multilingual service available 24/7 by calling or texting 1 800 563-0808 or emailing: VictimLinkBC@bc211.ca

For more details on the provincial health officer’s (PHO) Nov. 19 orders, visit: www.gov.bc.ca/covid19

Nov. 12, 2020, modeling update:
http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/modelling-projections

For the PHO's orders, visit:
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/about-bc-s-health-care-system/office-of-the-provincial-health-officer/current-health-topics/covid-19-novel-coronavirus

To see a map of COVID-19 cases by local health area, visit: http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/data

If you are experiencing symptoms, find a collection centre near you to get tested: http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/testing

For mental health and anxiety support, visit: www.bouncebackbc.ca
Or: www.anxietycanada.com

For a listing of the community exposure events, go to:

BCCDC (flights, work sites, etc.): http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/public-exposures
Fraser Health: fraserhealth.ca/covid19exposure
Interior Health: https://news.interiorhealth.ca/news/public-exposures/
Island Health: https://www.islandhealth.ca/learn-about-health/covid-19/outbreaks-and-exposures
Northern Health: https://www.northernhealth.ca/health-topics/outbreaks-and-exposures
Vancouver Coastal: http://www.vch.ca/covid-19/public-exposures

For the latest medical updates, including case counts, prevention, risks and testing, visit: http://www.bccdc.ca/
Or follow @CDCofBC on Twitter.

For non-health related information, including financial, child care and education supports, travel, transportation and essential service information, visit: www.gov.bc.ca/covid19
Or call 1 888 COVID19 (1 888 268-4319) between 7:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. (Pacific time), seven days a week.

For the latest videos and livestreaming of COVID-19 media availabilities, visit:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BCProvincialGovernment/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BCGovNews
YouTube: www.youtube.com/ProvinceofBC

Four backgrounders follow.

Assisted-living, long-term care homes and seniors’ rental buildings: 

Vancouver Coastal Health – 12 facilities

• Arbutus Care Centre (second occurrence)
• Banfield Pavilion
• Capilano Care Centre
• Columbus Residence
• Holy Family Hospital (fourth occurrence)
• Little Mountain Place (second occurrence)
• Louis Brier Home & Hospital
• Renfrew Care Centre
• Royal Arch Masonic Home (second occurrence)
• Three Links Care Centre
• Windermere Care Centre
• Youville Residence

Fraser Health – 31 facilities

• Agecare Harmony Court Care Centre
• Agecare Harmony Court Estates
• Al Hogg Pavilion (second occurrence)
• Amenida Seniors Community
• Belvedere Care Centre
• Care Life Fleetwood (second occurrence)
• Chartwell Langley Gardens (second occurrence)
• Cottage-Worthington Pavilion
• Fellburn Care Centre
• Finnish Manor
• Fort Langley Seniors Community
• George Derby Centre (second occurrence)
• Good Samaritan Delta View Care Centre
• Harrison Pointe
• Hawthorne Senior Care Community – assisted living
• Hawthorne Seniors Care Community – long-term care
• Holyrood Manor
• Jackman Manor
• Kiwanis Care Centre
• Laurel Place
• Menno Home
• Northcrest Care Centre
• Peace Portal Seniors Village (second occurrence)
• PICS Assisted Living (third occurrence)
• Queen’s Park Care Centre
• Sunset Manor (second occurrence)
• Tabor Home (second occurrence)
• The Residence at Clayton Heights
• The Residence in Mission
• White Rock Senior Village (second occurrence)
• Valley Haven Care Home

Northern Health – two facilities

• North Peace Seniors Housing Society
• Rotary Manor Dawson Creek

Interior Health – four facilities

• Hamlets at Westsyde
• Orchard Manor
• Sun Pointe Village
• Village by the Station

Island Health – two facilities

• Discovery Harbour Care
• Tsawaayuss-Rainbow Gardens

Acute-care facilities:

• Burnaby Hospital
• Langley Memorial Hospital
• Lions Gate Hospital
• Ridge Meadows Hospital
• Surrey Memorial Hospital

On Sept. 9, 2020, government announced 7,000 individuals would be hired into the health sector through three areas that are part of the health recruitment initiative:

1. 2,000 net new full-time equivalents to support visitation in long-term care and assisted living, including scheduling family visits, assisting with infection prevention and control practices for visiting, and providing information on necessary steps and processes for visiting.
2. 3,000 net new health-care support worker full-time equivalency, an innovative strategy to integrate staff without prior health-care education into the workplace, while providing funding and support to complete the health-care assistant education and training program.
3. Approximately 2,000 existing vacancies will benefit from a focused provincial recruitment campaign highlighting the opportunities available in B.C. for a variety of roles in long-term care and assisted living.

From March 16 to May 17, 2020, non-urgent surgeries were postponed as part of the initial COVID-19 response. Urgent and emergency surgeries continued to be performed during this period.

On May 7, health authorities began calling all patients waiting for surgery to confirm that they were ready to proceed with their surgery in a COVID-19 environment. To date, 111,584 patients have been contacted about their surgery.

All health authorities have completed their calls to patients who were on the waitlist prior to May 7. 

Health authorities resumed non-urgent surgeries on May 18 and have completed a combined total of 172,585 surgeries as of Nov. 22, 2020. Of these, 134,471 were urgent and non-urgent scheduled surgeries, and 38,114 were unscheduled or emergency surgeries.

Significant progress has been made to hire contact tracers across the province, in particular in the Lower Mainland.

• This week, an additional 221 roles were filled (mostly in the Fraser Health authority). To date, 935 individuals have been hired – more than the 500 initially announced in August or 608 announced in September.
• Government has recently approved increases to several health authorities, bringing the total number to be hired to over 1,200 positions. 
• In addition, Statistics Canada is providing contact-tracing resources to Fraser Health: 70 full-time equivalents are beginning work on Nov. 24 to support Fraser Health’s contact-tracing team (not included in hiring numbers).
• The ministry approved the First Nations Health Authority to hire 76 community health representative positions to support culturally safe contact-tracing efforts within First Nations communities.
• Health authorities continue to work through many interested candidates for contact-tracing positions. Across all health authorities/roles:
  • 399 candidates are in the interview stage;
  • 109 candidates are in the offer process.
• There also continues to be interest in contact-tracing positions, primarily through health authorities:
  • 10,526 individuals have expressed interest in total, with 2,121 individuals expressing interest to Health Match BC and 8,405 expressing interest directly to health authorities. In the past week, 645 people have expressed interest.