Monday November 2, 2020 | VANCOUVER ISLAND, BC [Updated 8:35 am November 3, 2020]
by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc., editor | Island Social Trends
A shocking upsurge in COVID-19 cases was reported today by the BC Centre for Disease Control. The average daily case count is almost three times what it was just a few weeks ago.
Deputy Provincial Health Officer Dr Réka Gustafson and Health Minister Adrian Dix today reported 1,120 test-positive cases from over the last three days: Friday October 30 through Monday November 2.
That’s about 373 per day, associated with “more time indoors in cooler weather”. Until now, the highest daily count had been 274 (on Thursday October 22) and an average of 272 cases over the previous weekend (October 23 to 26).
Closeup on Vancouver Island:
Today’s new cases of COVID-19 include nine on Vancouver Island, bringing the total in Island Health to 265.
All of the new cases on Vancouver Island reported today are among working-age adults (two cases each for people in their 20s, 30s, 40 and 50s, and one case in a person in their 60s).
The age profile of COVID-19 cases on Vancouver Island in the pandemic to date is just 20 kids (seven under the age of 10, and 13 youth up to age 19 years) — that tally has been the same since October 22. That’s 7.5% of cases in Island Health this year. This is relatively good news, in that infection by being in schools is not particularly evident (at least not on Vancouver Island).
The case numbers among the elderly on Vancouver Island have also not increased since October 22. People in their 70s have seen 25 cases, with just nine cases in people age 80 to 89, and one person age 90+.
Source of infection:
According to the Island Health COVID dashboard, most of the cases on the island have been due to “linked to confirmed case or cluster”, with no indication of exposure due to international travel.
Active cases:
As of November 2, there are 13 active cases of COVID-19 on Vancouver Island.
Of the 13 active cases, there are four in the south, four in the central region, and five in the north part of the island.
Of the total 265 cases on Vancouver Island from the start of the pandemic, the regional distribution has been fairly even: 99 south, 85 central, and 81 north.
Hospitalizations:
In Island Health there have been a total of 26 patients hospitalized due to COVID-19. That’s since the beginning of the pandemic.
Presently there is no one is in hospital with COVID-19 in Island Health. Such has been the case for several weeks.
Tests:
In total, there have been 101,170 COVID-19 tests done in Island Health since the start of the pandemic.
In the last 24 hours (Sunday November 1 to Monday November 2) there were 489 tests done, from which two positive results were found. That’s a positivity rate of less than half of one percent (very low rate or incidence of spread through direct contact).
No new deaths in Island Health:
There were six new deaths in today’s province-wide COVID-19 report but none of those were in Island Health (five were among people in Vancouver Coastal and one in Fraser Health).
Deaths in Island Health have totalled at six since the start of the pandemic. The last reported COVID death on Vancouver Island was on September 28.
There have been no outbreaks in long-term care homes on Vancouver Island during the pandemic this year to date.
