While the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a warning today (June 8) that the pandemic is worsening on a global level, B.C. is still not showing signs of any significant increases in case numbers despite entering the fourth week of the provincial reopening plan.

However, as Canada prepares to help families reunite across the Canada-U.S. border, concerns remain about the status of the pandemic in the United States.

Daily update

As provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry had her first day off since the beginning of the pandemic on June 6, she provided an update for time periods over the past three days (from June 5 to 8).

From June 5 to 6, there were 14 new cases, six new cases from June 6 to 7, and nine new cases from June 7 to 8, for a total of 29 new cases over three days. There was also one epidemiologically linked case.

B.C. has now had a cumulative total of 2,659 cases, with 907 in Vancouver Coastal Health, 1,362 in Fraser Health, 130 on Vancouver Island, 195 in Interior Health, and 64 in Northern Health. (Dr. Henry said that there has been a data correction for Vancouver Coastal Health.)

There are 183 active cases with 16 people in hospital (four of those patients are in intensive care units).

There aren’t any new healthcare outbreaks, leaving four active outbreaks in longterm care facilities with a total of 558 cases (340 residents and 218 staff).

Community outbreaks at Chilliwack’s Fraser Valley Specialty Poultry and Coquitlam’s Superior Poultry are now over.

There haven't been any new deaths over the past three days—the total number of fatalities is 167.

A total of 2,309 people, or 87 percent of all cases, have now recovered from the coronavirus.

Increases in the U.S.

B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix drew attention to some concerning news from the U.S., which is approaching two million COVID-19 cases and over 100,000 deaths.

Over the past week, he said the states that B.C. are closest to and where people are mostly likely to visit or have a connection to have had significant case load increases, including Washington state, Oregon, California, and Arizona, where he said “case rates have spiked dramatically”.

“This is why we continue to have to be vigilant, particularly at the border, in ensuring we keep transmission low,” he said.

He added that these “significant upticks” continue “to be a problem for us” when considering when borders can reopen to visitors, which he said he does not see as “practical”.

He said that they are working with federal government to allow families to reunite after being separated by the closure of the U.S.-Canada border to non-essential travel. Reunifications will begin tomorrow (June 9).

Dr. Henry pointed out that both provincial and federal orders still require all people to quarantine for 14 days upon arriving in Canada.

Meanwhile, several recent cases in Manitoba have been linked to truckers arriving from the U.S.

Consequently, federal NDP health critic and Vancouver Kinsgway MP Don Davies has raised concerns that there isn’t any data tracking COVID-19 infections among truckers traveling between the U.S. and Canada.

Racial identity, data, and protests

When asked about collecting data according to ethnic groups, Dr. Henry explained, as she has previously explained, that the original national case report form did not ask for racial information, and have used some proxies for neighbourhoods.

However, she pointed out that the recent B.C. survey, about how COVID-19 impacted British Columbians, did ask about racial identity.

“We know that race is a learned concept and that it is something that we ascribe to people based on characteristics and it is important for us to understand the impact of this pandemic as we know many other pandemics and other health issues differentially affect people who are racialized and racilaized communities,” she said. “We also know that socio-economic status has an important role to play in peoples’ access and their health in general.”

As she has previously stated, she added that they have placed special emphasis on understanding impact on Indigenous communities, in partnership with the First Nations Health Authority.

“We know that Indigenous communities are more differentially affected by this pandemic and all pandemics,” she said. “We have seen that many racialized communities are also adversely affected disproportionately.”

As protests about racial and policing issues continue across the U.S. and Canada in the wake of the death of George Floyd, Dr. Henry urged people attending protests to continue maintaining practising health measures.

“It’s a very difficult thing because we know people need to speak up against racism and against the impacts that it’s having on our communities,” she said, “but I am concerned, and we are concerned, that we are doing it in a way that respects…our right to peaceful demonstration, but also respects that potentially we can have impacts on those very people who we are trying to stand up to protect.”

She also asked protest participants to take precautions after attending such events.

“For those who have been participating in these large groups, especially if there’s a lot of chanting and you’re close together, those are risky and you need to monitor yourself for symptoms and if you have any concerns about symptoms, to please get tested and connect with your healthcare provider,” she said, also adding that people can use the online self-assessment tool. “We do not want to have outbreaks seeded because of these very important ways of having our voices heard.”