Thursday October 22, 2020 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke, editor | Island Social Trends
Asked today by media about the first COVID-19 outbreak in a school in BC (a French school in Kelowna as reported by the BC Centre for Disease Control on October 21), BC NDP Leader John Horgan (de facto premier until results of the October 24 election are known), said Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry would be addressing that at 3 pm today in her COVID-19 media availability.
Three people in the École l’Anse-au-sable elementary and secondary school tested positive for COVID-19 and 160 people were asked to self-isolate and watch for symptoms.
École de l’Anse-au-sable is part of School District 93 which encompasses 40 French-language schools across the province.
Record number of COVID-19 daily cases:
Yesterday there were 203 — a record number — of daily COVID-19 test-positive cases were reported in BC Centre for Disease Control statistics. This is the result potentially expected after family and group get-togethers over the Thanksgiving weekend October 10-12 (this now being after the incubation period following that).
BC public health has identified gatherings such as weddings, funerals and other important social situations as the source of viral spread.
The SARS-CoV-2 (aka COVID-19) coronavirus is most easily spread in situations of close contact and closed spaces, as explained by Dr Henry in recent weeks and months.
Wearing masks for COVID-19 management:
“Our plan will also be a flexible plan, amended as circumstances present themselves (re school outbreak). No issue is too small to address to reduce anxieties for families to get the best education for kids,” said Horgan today.
As for wearing masks during the pandemic to help slow down viral transmission, Horgan said that anything made mandatory “requires enforcement and leads to resistance and hostility”.
When as premier — and during the election campaign — Horgan has indicated several times that he is very much on the same page as Dr Henry and her team around educating the public around the recommended public health measures about preventing the spread of COVID-19 until such time as there is a vaccine or a cure.
