Monday October 5, 2020 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc. | Island Social Trends
Three days of COVID tests in BC produced 358 new cases since Friday. Reported today October 5, there were 130 cases Friday to Saturday, 108 cases Saturday to Sunday, and 120 cases from Sunday to today. There have now been 9,739 cases in BC during the pandemic this year.
The 3-day intake of new test-positive cases averages to 119 daily (a bit lower than the peak seen in recent weeks). There were four new deaths.
The surge of cases among young adults ages 20 to 39 continued in the 3-day profile. Together there were 157 new cases in that grouping, or 43.8% of the new cases.
Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry said that 3,010 people are self-isolating due to exposure to the COVID-19 virus, with BC having now 1,353 active cases.
Now 8,115 people are said to have recovered from test-positive cases.
Among kids under the age of 19, there were 49 more cases in the last three days (22 in children under age 10, and 27 in tweens and teens).
Dr Henry emphasizes that kids under age 19 make up 10% of the BC population, but that about half that percentage of COVID cases appears in youth.
There have been hospitalizations among children and youth, she said today, but only a very few in intensive care and no deaths.
Vancouver Island case profile:
Eleven of the new cases over the past three days were on Vancouver Island but none of the four new deaths were within Island Health.
Of the 11 new cases, these are the age groupings:
- newborn to 10 – 1 case
- Age 10 to 19 – 1 case
- Age 30 to 39 – 3 cases
- Age 40 to 49 – 2 cases
- Age 50 to 59 – 4 cases
There are presently 10 active cases on the island and 204 people who had tested positive have now recovered.
In total, there have been 221 cases on Vancouver Island to date this year due to COVID-19, and six deaths.
People are cutting back their activities:
Dr Henry is pleased that British Columbians have heeded her call for less social activity in the last few weeks. The data modelling she presented today shows activity at 45% of pre-COVID normal interactions — that’s a big effort toward flattening the curve!
Dr Henry also says that through her orders (and enforcement with fines) for cutting back on activity in banquet halls, bars and nightclubs has definitely served to reduce the number of cases.
Schools are okay:
The incidence of infection in schools is under control, said Dr Henry. Exposures are posted on health authority websites. But there have been no outbreaks.
One case on Vancouver Island occurred in a teacher at Alberni District Secondary School (in SD70), where exposure to others would have been on five days September 14, 15, 17, 18 and 22, according to the Island Health website. That class and cohort is now self isolating at home, and siblings of those students are asked to self isolate as well.
“School exposure information is posted by health authorities so that school staff, students and parents can be assured that public health is aware and acting upon all detected COVID-19 exposures within schools,” it is stated on the Island Health website.
