Dr. Bonnie Henry points out in daily briefing that reopening businesses reinforces the need for physical distancing

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      Dr. Bonnie Henry says that as more settings are opened up as part of B.C.'s restart plan, the public needs to be remain vigilant to avoid contracting COVID-19.

      She cited the example of church services in the United States, where a large number of people have become ill and some people have died. All it took was for one infected person to spread the virus.

      Henry made the comment in response to a reporter's question about the high number of cases linked to long-term care homes and assisted-housing facilities for seniors.

      "Most of the outbreaks have been in those setting because many of the other settings where we would see outbreaks have been closed down," Henry said.

      In the past, the provincial health officer has said that it's "inevitable" there will be a second COVID-19 wave.

      In the meantime, according to Henry, medical students, retired people, and others are supporting public-health teams engaged in tracking those who've come in contact with those with COVID-19.

      "There are several hundred doing this in Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health," Henry said.

      The federal government has offered assistance to the province in "contact tracing" to contain future spreads of the virus.

      Henry said that this isn't occurring right now and instead, she urged Ottawa to pay more attention to who is entering Canada.

      "We need to have meticulous follow-up of people coming over our borders," Henry said.

      During today's briefing, Henry also said that there's a nurse hotline operated by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

      There were 10 new cases of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, bringing the provincial total of confirmed cases to 2,517.

      There have also been two new deaths linked to COVID-19, raising B.C.'s total to 157.

      There are 39 people in B.C. hospitals with COVID-19, including eight in critical care. And there were no new outbreaks in long-term care or acute-care facilities.

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