Tuesday July 7, 2020 ~ VICTORIA, BC
by Mary Brooke, B.Sc., editor ~ West Shore Voice News
Today the BC Centre for Disease Control (BC CDC) statistics for COVID-19 in the province indicates 12 new cases. That brings the total cases in BC to 2,990 (2,981 lab-diagnosed, 9 epi-linked). These stats were provided in a written report and can be found in the COVID-19 dashboard on the BC CDC website.
Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix took part in an exclusive interview today on Global TV live at 3 pm, instead of doing their usual BC Government COVID-19 joint update live online.
The BC CDC COVID-19 dashboard currently shows 16 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the province (with four in ICU). No new deaths by COVID-19 were reported today, holding the province-wide tally at 183 since the beginning of the pandemic. In BC 2,645 people have recovered.
Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 1,013 cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 1,576 in the Fraser Health region, 133 in the Island Health region, 203 in the Interior Health region and 65 in the Northern Health region.
New community outbreak in Vancouver:
“There has been a new community exposure event at Hotel Belmont bar and nightclub in the Vancouver Coastal Health region,” it was stated in a written release from BC Health. “Public health teams have issued an alert for anyone who may have been at the premises on June 27 and June 29.”
“If you have been at one of these locations, monitor yourself for symptoms, limit your contact with others and contact 811 to arrange for testing if any symptoms develop.”.
Number of youth infections keeps growing:
Finally the messaging about COVID-19 affecting all age groups is becoming more articulate from public health in BC. Until now, the messaging has been to protect ‘elders and those with underlying health issues’, which has very likely led to a false sense of confidence among teens, youth and young adults.
“Regardless of your age, we know that COVID-19 can cause severe and serious illness. Until effective treatment or a vaccine is available, we all need to stay vigilant,” it was stated in the joint release from Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry and BC Health Minister Adrian Dix today July 7.
More cases among youth in the age 10 to 19 group are reported in the cases today — 82 in that age group. Together with 49 in the under-age-10 age category that’s a total of 131 among children and teens. That’s a number slowly climbing since a tally of 73 on May 21 (26 under the age of 10, and 47 in the 10-19 age group) just after the long weekend as the economy began to open up and before schools re-opened on a voluntary basis at June 1).
In the age 20 to 29 year-old group that is likely socializing a lot this summer, the number of cases is 357 today July 7 (up by two since yesterday).
Dr Henry said yesterday that the outdoor group protests in BC (mostly related to anti-racism issues in the past month) have not shown to have generated cases of COVID-19, likely due to being outdoors and not a lot of face-to-face interactive discussion compared to cases seen from indoor gatherings or from time spent in groups on beaches.
Vancouver Island focus:
On Vancouver Island today there was one new case reported, bringing the total in the Island Health region to 133.
No one is in hospital with COVID-19 on the island today. There have been five deaths in total on Vancouver Island during the pandemic to date.
Distribution by age on Vancouver Island shows the highest number of cases (23) in the 70-79 age group, with with a similar number (22) in the 30-39 age group, followed closely (21 cases) by the 50-59 age group.
In youth age 10 to 19 on Vancouver Island there have been eight cases of COVID-19. No children under age 10 have been tested positive for COVID-19 on Vancouver Island during the pandemic to date.