Thursday February 20, 2020 ~ VICTORIA, BC
by Mary Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
There is now a sixth case of COVID-19 (coronavirus) in BC. A woman in her 30s who lives in the Fraser Health region returned home from a trip to Iran and has now tested positive for COVID-19.
This was announced by BC Provincial Health Officer (PHO) Dr Bonnie Henry today February 20 in a late afternoon news conference at 5:30 pm.
That brings the number of confirmed cases in Canada to eight (six in BC, two in Ontario).
It was only yesterday that Dr Henry announced that the first five instances of COVID-19 (coronavirus) infection in BC were all positive for recovery.
The work of the public health system is now being done for this new case, which includes checking back over the travel path, contacting anyone who may have been in contact with the infected person, and making regular checks on the infected woman who is self-isolating at home.
The woman’s symptoms had been relatively mild, and even the first public health contact at a local hospital thought it was just regular influenza. This being the regular annual winter flu season has led a number of people — who sought medical assessment with flu symptoms — to find out they indeed have the flu and not COVID_19, said Dr Henry today.
“Iran has started reported that they have cases there (5 cases and 2 deaths in Iran),” said Dr Henry in today’s media conference. “There’s a bit of interest from around the world,” she said, and now with the World Health Organization (WHO) looking into this. “One new country (Islamic Republic of Iran) reported cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours,” said WHO in their 31st daily report which is dated February 20, 2020.
This is potentially now “more widespread” and “an essential event”, said Dr Henry, adding that it’s “a marker that something may be going on broader than what we might have expected”. WHO will be doing an international investigation as to where the exposure occurred, she said.
“BC more than any other jurisdiction has a low bar for testing,” said BC Health Minister Adrian Dix this afternoon. “We have tested a significant number of people,” he said, adding that more details on that will be posted on the BC Centre for Disease Control website tomorrow (February 21).
“We encourage people who have symptoms to engage with the public health care system,” said Dix. “That is the best way to control the virus in BC… for individuals who get sick and for the rest of the public.”
By far the majority of cases of coronavirus infection have been in China but with global in impact. That includes cases of infected persons on two cruise ships — one that held passengers in quarantine for 14 days in Japan (the Diamond Princess) and another that allowed passengers to disembark in Cambodia (the Westerdam).
“The worst case scenario is broad transmission in other countries,” said Dr Henry today.
There are few reports of young people contracting the illness, which could also include however that they show mild to no symptoms even if contracting the virus. This could be a way for the virus to spread, without people realizing they are infected or causing infection.
The high number of people who acquired the COVID-19 virus on the Diamond Princess cruise ship harboured in Japan (including 47 Canadians as of today February 19) are now thought to have contracted it under ‘incubator-like’ circumstances. Many people have been confined to one small area. Dr Henry says the 14-day quarantine on the ship “was not an effective method” to contain spread of the virus.
Dr Henry proposes that the virus was spread in particular by crew on the Diamond Princess, who were sleeping on the ship in close quarters in bunks. Crew were delivering meals to ship guests in their cabins, which could have easily spread the virus which travels in droplets that require moisture and can survive on objects. The droplets are ‘heavy’ and are not easily transmitted through the air unless people are in close proximity (two to three meters), and when the droplets are carried in the moisture of coughs and sneezes.
As of February 20, the World Health Organization reports that there are now 75,748 confirmed cases of COVID-19 (including 2,121 deaths), which is up from 75,204 yesterday. Of the current tally, 1,073 cases are outside of China (in 26 countries; 8 deaths), up from 924 yesterday.
People in BC and across Canada are reminded to wash their hands, cover coughs and sneezes, and staying home if you’re not feeling well. People in BC who have been tested as negative for COVID-19 are in many cases showing other types of influenza infection in their test results.
“Right now we’re not seeing transmission in community, so I don’t feel we need to be cancelling (public) events,” said Dr Henry today. “But if you’re not feeling well don’t go (out to events), and stay home to take care of yourself and protect your family.”
Dr Henry says BC is still in a condition of handling this public health situation with containment, i.e. detect and detain and isolate.
[Update]: As of February 21, 2020 the BC Centre for Disease control reports having tested 996 samples from 677 individuals.
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Technical detail and updates: BC Centre for Disease Control