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BC recorded a new record single-day increase in cases, as well as four consecutive days of over 100 cases, during the Thanksgiving long weekend.
BC records 549 cases of COVID-19 over long weekend
Published 4:30 PDT, Tue October 13, 2020
Last Updated: 5:55 PDT, Tue October 13, 2020
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BC saw a weekend surge in new cases of COVID-19, but provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said this is partially due to a backlog of tests in the Fraser Health region.
The backlog amounted to about 6,000 tests, basically an extra day’s worth, that were cleared over the weekend when nearly 40,000 tests were carried out. The positivity rate was 1.39 per cent, a statistic Henry called “stable.”
From Friday to Saturday there were 170 new cases—a single-day record high—followed by 159 from Saturday to Sunday. From Sunday to Monday there were 119 new cases reported, and a further 101 since midday Monday. This marks 549 cases in total over the four-day weekend period. Five of these cases are epidemiologically linked, and BC’s total now stands at 10,734.
There are 1,476 active cases and 3,618 people are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases. There are 77 people in hospital, 24 of whom are in critical care.
Sadly, there were five new virus-related deaths over the weekend, two in the Fraser Health region and three in the Vancouver Coastal Health region. The province’s total is now 250 deaths related to COVID-19.
There were four new healthcare outbreaks reported, and two were declared over. Twenty active outbreaks remain in the healthcare system: 17 in longterm care and assisted living and 3 in acute care.
Henry said health authorities are working on a province-wide plan to ensure BC’s testing system is operating as efficiently as possible. The plan includes the use of different platforms across the province, pre-test pieces including booking, processing and post-test reporting.
There were no new community outbreaks, but Henry said community exposures continue to occur primarily because symptoms can take several days to develop. There has been an increase in community exposures linked to recreational sports leagues, and Henry recommended people who play in these leagues choose one rather than playing in a number of leagues at the same time.
She also suggested parents “pare down” their kids’ after-school activities so they don’t have large exposures to different groups of people on different days.
“Our actions today have a direct impact on how our province will fare tomorrow and in the weeks to come,” said Henry. “We are stronger together by staying apart.”
For a list of community exposure events, click here.
For the latest medical updates, including case counts, prevention, risks and testing, visit: http://www.bccdc.ca/ or follow @CDCofBC on Twitter.
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