COVID-19 in B.C.: Another new record of over 700 new cases, 24 schools with new exposures, and more

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      Update (November 26):

      Due to data error from Fraser Health, B.C. announced corrected case counts for Fraser Health and the province. For more on the data correction, see this article

      Original article (November 18):

      For a second consecutive day, B.C. recorded a record number of new cases and also remained over 700 new cases.

      Active and hospitalized cases continued to increase, and the number of deaths remained high.

      There are also three new healthcare outbreaks, and 24 schools, 10 flights, and one store with new exposure events.

      At a news conference today, B.C. Premier John Horgan said he is calling upon the federal government to have a Canada-wide approach to non-essential travel. Travel in and out of the province is discouraged and Horgan said he expects this guidance to remain in place for the next two weeks.

      He also said that he expects that B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry’s recommendations to avoid all non-essential travel in and out of the Lower Mainland to also remain for the next two weeks.

      The orders were effective on November 7 and were set to expire on Monday (November 23). However, Horgan said that Henry will further elaborate on the situation at tomorrow’s daily COVID-19 briefing (November 19). Henry had previously explained that she could potentially adjust or extend the orders, depending on what they are seeing in case counts.

      In yesterday’s joint statement from Henry and B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix, they said that cases have appeared in several health authorities across the province linked to travel from Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.

      B.C. Premier John Horgan
      Province of British Columbia

      B.C. update: November 18

      In a joint statement, Henry and Dix announced 762 new cases, including three epi-linked cases, today in the province. That surpasses yesterday's record of 717 new cases of COVID-19.

      By region, today's total number of new cases includes:

      • 481 new cases in Fraser Health;
      • 210 in Vancouver Coastal Health;
      • 38 in Interior Health;
      • 20 in Island Health;
      • 13 in Northern Health;
      • no new cases of people from outside Canada.

      Active cases continue to rise. Currently, there are 6,861 active cases, which is an increase of 272 new cases since yesterday.

      Hospitalizations are also continuing to increase—209 individuals are now in hospital (11 more people since yesterday), with 58 of those patients in intensive care (five less than yesterday).

      One spot of good news is that the number of people who public health is monitoring has continued to decrease for the past few days—public health is now monitoring 9,871 people (due to exposure to confirmed cases), which is 1,089 less people than yesterday.

      Tragically though, the number of fatalities remains high. Today, Henry and Dix announced 10 new COVID-19-related deaths, which brings the total fatalities during the pandemic to 320 deaths in B.C.

      Over the course of the pandemic, there has been a cumulative total of 24,422 cases confirmed in B.C., which includes:

      • 15,140 cases in Fraser Health;
      • 7,079 in Vancouver Coastal Health;
      • 1,144 cases in Interior Health;
      • 552 in Northern Health;
      • 417 in Island health;
      • 90 people from outside Canada.

      A cumulative total of 16,914 people who tested positive have now recovered.

      B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix with provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry
      Province of British Columbia

      Outbreaks and public exposures

      There are three new healthcare outbreaks:

      • AgeCare Harmony Court Estates (7197 Canada Way) in Burnaby;
      • Menno Home (32910 Brundige Avenue) in Abbotsford;
      • Peace Villa (8407 112 Avenue) in Fort St. John.

      The outbreak at the Normanna longterm care home in Burnaby has been declared over.

      Active outbreaks are now at a total of 51 healthcare facilities. 

      There aren’t any new community outbreaks and the outbreak at La Casa Cottages vacation rentals in West Kelowna, which was announced on November 4, has been declared over.

      Regional health authorities didn’t list any new public exposure events.

      Sobeys announced that an employee who last worked at the 7450 120th Street location of FreshCo in Surrey on November 14 has tested positive.

      The New Westminster Record had reported on November 14 that the Waffle House (636 6th Street) had posted a sign that it had temporarily closed on November 8 after an employee tested positive.

      The B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) added these 10 flights confirmed with COVID-19 to its list:

      • November 6: Swoop 109, Hamilton to Abbotsford;
      • November 7: Flair 8418, Toronto to Vancouver;
      • November 9: WestJet 3342, Calgary to Kelowna;
      • November 11: North Cariboo Air 1541, Terrace to Kelowna;
      • November 11: WestJet 711, Toronto to Vancouver;
      • November 11: WestJet 3320, Vancouver to Kelowna;
      • November 12: Air Canada 554, Vancouver to Los Angeles;
      • November 13: Air Canada/Jazz 8571, Regina to Vancouver;
      • November 15: Flair 8512, Vancouver to Toronto;
      • November 16: Swoop 406, Toronto to Abbotsford.

      Affected row information is available at the BCCDC website. 

      Mount Boucherie Secondary School

      School exposures

      Four regional health authorities added 24 schools with new exposures.

      Northern Health didn’t have any schools with new exposure dates.

      Island Health added new exposure dates for one school: Alberni District Secondary School (4000 Roger Street), which had Vancouver Island’s first school exposures from September 14 to 15 and 17 to 18 and on September 22, had a new exposure event from November 12 to 13.

      Interior Health had three schools in Kelowna with new exposure dates:

      • Mount Boucherie Secondary School (2751 Cameron Road) in West Kelowna had an exposure event from November 9 to 10;
      • Okanagan Mission Secondary School (4544 Gordon Drive), which previously had exposures from October 28 to 30 and from November 2 to 3, had an exposure on November 10;
      • École Élémentaire Casorso Elementary School (3675 Casorso Road), which previously had exposures from November 5 to 6 and from November 9 to 10, had a new exposure on November 12.

      Vancouver Coastal Health had four schools with new exposures.

      In Vancouver, there were three schools:

      • Lord Roberts Elementary School (1100 Bidwell Street) had exposures from November 9 to 10 and on November 12;
      • Walter Moberly Elementary School (1000 East 59th Avenue) had exposures from November 9 to 10 and November 12 to 13;
      • Killarney Secondary School (6454 Killarney Street), which had previous exposures from October 26 to November 1, has added November 2 to 4 and 12 to 13 as additional dates.

      In West Vancouver, Irwin Park Elementary (2455 Haywood Avenue) had exposures from November 9 to 10.

      Bear Creek Elementary

      Yesterday, Fraser Health was unable to update its lists due to technical problems. Today, new exposure dates were added for 16 schools in Surrey :

      • Bear Creek Elementary (13780 80 Avenue) had exposures on November 6 and 10;
      • Cloverdale Learning Center (5658 176 Street) had an exposure event from November 11 to 12;
      • Elgin Park Secondary (13484 24 Avenue) had an exposure on November 10;
      • Enver Creek Secondary (14505 84th Avenue)—which previously had exposures on October 9, 14, and 26, and from November 3 to 5—had new exposures on November 4, 5, 9, and 16;
      • Frank Hurt Secondary (13940 77th Avenue) in Surrey—which previously had exposures from October 1 to 2; from October 5 to 9; from October 13 to 16; on October 19, 21, 22, and 30from November 2 to 3; and on November 5—has added November 4, 10, and 12 as exposure dates; 
      • Georges Vanier Elementary (6985 142 Street)—which previously had exposures from September 29 to 30, on October 19 and November 2 and 5—has added November 10 as an exposure date;
      • Guildford Park Secondary (10707 146 Street) in North Surrey had an exposure on November 5;
      • Hyland Elementary (6677 140 Street), which previously had exposures from October 8 to 9, had an exposure event from November 12 to 13;
      • Johnston Heights Secondary (15350 99 Avenue), which previously had an exposure event from September 8 to 11 and on October 19, had a new exposure event from November 9 to 12;
      • Latimer Road Elementary (19233 60th Avenue) had an exposure on November 4;
      • Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary (6151 180 Street), which previously had exposures from September 14 to 15, had new exposures on November 10 and 12;
      • Newton Elementary (13359 81 Avenue), which previously had exposures from October 27 to 29 and on November 1, had new exposures on November 5 and 10;
      • École Panorama Ridge Secondary (13220 64 Avenue)—which previously had exposures on September 8 and 10; from September 30 to October 1; from October 6 to 9 and 13 to 15; from October 19 to 20; and on November 3—has added November 4 and 5;
      • Princess Margaret Secondary (12870 72nd Avenue)—which previously had exposures on September 11; on October 12, 15, and 16; on October 26 and 29; and from November 2 to 5—had a new exposure on November 6;
      • Riverdale Elementary (14835 108a Avenue) had an exposure on November 12;
      • Sullivan Heights Secondary (6248 144 Street)—which had previous incidents on September 8, from September 30 to October 1; from October 13 to 15, and on October 19; from October 20 to 22; on October 30; and from November 3 to 5—has added November 4 to 5 and 12.
      Cloverdale Learning Centre
      You can follow Craig Takeuchi on Twitter at @cinecraig or on Facebook.

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