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

“Today, we are announcing 82 new cases, including one epi-linked case, for a total of 9,220 cases in British Columbia.

“There are 1,261 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, 3,093 people who are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases and 7,695 people who tested positive have recovered.

“Currently, 69 individuals are hospitalized with COVID-19, 19 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.

“Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 3,360 cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 4,712 in the Fraser Health region, 209 in the Island Health region, 535 in the Interior Health region, 317 in the Northern Health region and 87 cases of people who reside outside of Canada.

“There has been one new COVID-19 related death, for a total of 235 deaths in British Columbia. We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There has been one new health-care facility outbreak at the George Derby Centre long-term care facility in the Fraser Health region. In total, 15 long-term care or assisted-living facilities and three acute-care facilities have active outbreaks.

“There have been no new community outbreaks, although there continue to be community exposure events around the province.

“Public alerts and school notifications are posted on the BC Centre for Disease Control’s (BCCDC) website, and on all health authorities’ websites, providing details on where the potential exposure occurred and what actions to take – whether to self-isolate or monitor for symptoms.

“As our understanding of COVID-19 has grown, so has our understanding of what safe activities we are all able to do.

“Our daily lives may be quite different, but by so many people in B.C. doing their part – keeping our groups small, staying apart and staying safe – we have been able to expand those activities.

“The result is that today many businesses are fully operating, students are in school and we are able to see a small number of family and friends.

“The wall that protects these activities is made up of our layers of protection and safety basics – washing our hands, maintaining a safe physical distance from others, using a mask when that is difficult and always staying home when ill.

“We are on the right track and we want to keep that wall strong. To do that, it is important that we continue to keep our groups small, stick with our ‘safe six,’ minimize our travel and keep our safety basics top of mind.

“By supporting each other to do the right thing, by offering kindness and care to our friends and neighbours, we can protect our communities. Let’s keep going.”

Quick Facts:

• Assisted living, long-term care homes and seniors’ rental buildings with ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks are as follows:
  • Vancouver Coastal Health
    • Banfield Pavilion long-term care facility
    • Haro Park Centre long-term care facility (second occurrence)
    • Holy Family Hospital long-term care facility (second occurrence)
    • Point Grey Private Hospital long-term care facility
    • Yaletown House long-term care facility
  • Fraser Health
    • Cherington Place long-term care facility
    • Evergreen Hamlets long-term care facility
    • George Derby Centre long-term care facility
    • Harrison West at Elim Village long-term care facility
    • Kin Village assisted-living facility
    • Milieu Children and Family Services Society community-living facility
    • New Vista Care Home long-term care facility
    • Rideau Retirement Centre independent-living facility
    • Thornebridge Gardens assisted-living facility
    • Peace Portal Seniors Village long-term care facility

Learn More:

Guidance for Halloween during COVID19: http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/social-interactions/halloween

To find the provincial health officer’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

Two backgrounders follow.

From March 16 to May 17, 2020, non-urgent surgeries — surgeries that have a target wait time of greater than six weeks — were postponed as part of the initial COVID-19 pandemic 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, willing and able to proceed with their surgery in a COVID-19 environment. To date, 96,087 patients have been contacted about their surgery.

Health authorities resumed non-urgent surgeries on May 18 and have completed a combined total of 116,828 surgeries as of Sept. 27, of which 89,892 were urgent and non-urgent scheduled surgeries, and 26,936 were unscheduled or emergency surgeries.

Total surgeries completed by health authority since May 18:

• 32,327 in Fraser Health;
• 21,729 in Interior Health;
• 6,828 in Northern Health;
• 27,346 in Vancouver Coastal Health;
• 23,754 in Island Health; and
• 4,844 in the Provincial Health Services Authority.

Weekly total surgeries completed from Sept. 14 to Sept. 20:

Last week, health authorities reported 6,691 surgeries completed from Sept. 14 to Sept. 20. Health authorities have now verified their data and the total number of surgeries completed was 6,989.

Weekly total surgeries completed from Sept. 21 to Sept. 27:

Health authorities completed 6,811 surgeries.

Snapshot of progress:

There continues to be significant interest in contact tracing positions through both Health Match BC (HMBC) and health authority mechanisms. All health authorities are moving candidates through the recruitment process.

• 4,438 individuals have expressed interest in total, with 2,001 individuals expressing interest to HMBC and 2,437 expressing interest directly to health authorities. Note: some candidates may have expressed interest to both HMBC and the health authorities and therefore may be counted twice in the numbers. Additionally, not all candidates who have expressed interest are qualified to fill contact tracing positions.
• HMBC has referred 1,048 individuals to regional health authorities and the Provincial Health Services Authority as appropriate.
• There have been 327 total hires provincewide.