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B.C.’s COVID-19 response and latest updates for July 7
Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, and Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, today (July 7) issued the following joint statement regarding updates on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) response in British Columbia
Today, we are announcing 12 new cases, including one epidemiologically (epi) linked case, for a total of 2,990 cases in British Columbia. ‘Epi-linked’ means that public health investigations have shown that cases meet the case definition for COVID-19 but may not have been tested for a number of reasons. In future reports, new tested and epi-linked cases will be included as one number.
There are 162 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 2,645 people who tested positive have recovered.
Of the total COVID-19 cases, 16 individuals are hospitalized, four of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.
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.
There have been no new COVID-19 related deaths, for a total of 183 deaths in British Columbia. We offer our condolences to everyone who has lost their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic.
There have been no new health-care facility outbreaks and the outbreak at Tabor Home has now been declared over. In total, two long-term care or assisted-living facilities and one acute care facility have active outbreaks.
While there are no active community outbreaks in B.C., new cases and community exposure events continue to occur in the community.
There has been a new community exposure event at Hotel Belmont bar and nightclub in the Vancouver Coastal Health region. 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.
It is important to remember that the more people you see and the more places you go, the higher the likelihood is that you’ll come into contact with someone with COVID-19.
To protect yourself, the best things you can do are to keep the number of people you see to a minimum and as much as possible, maintain a safe distance from others and use a mask when that is challenging.
Following these rules for safe social interactions also supports important contact tracing efforts, allowing public health teams to quickly identify those who may be at risk, put additional precautions in place and contain further transmission.
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.
British Columbians have flattened the curve, and to weather this storm, everyone in B.C. needs to do their part, whether at home, at work or on vacation. We can protect our communities, our seniors, Elders and our loved ones by working together while staying apart.
Lead image: Protective measures in place to ensure social distancing at Invermere’s AG Valley Foods. Carrie Schafer/e-KNOW photo
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