It’s International Handwashing Day, which is something everyone should know about by now.

if you don’t or need a refresher, you can find information on the B.C. Centre for Disease Control website.

B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry used the opportunity to remind people of the importance about maintaining good hand hygiene to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

While the new case count remains high, active, monitored, and hospitalized cases were either the same as yesterday or have decreased.

Henry said 9,016 tests were conducted, with a 1.5 percent positivity rate (Henry had previously explained that the aim is to remain below two percent).

There were also eight more schools with exposure incidents, and five flights, two vehicle dealerships, and a shipping centre with exposure events.

In addition, B.C. confirmed its first case of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).

Daily update: October 15

Henry stated there are 142 new cases (including three epi-linked cases) today.

At the moment, there are 1,494 active cases, which is only two less than yesterday.

Hospitalized cases have decreased down to 74 people in hospital, which is 10 less than yesterday, but the number of those patients in intensive care units—24 people—remains the same for the third consecutive day.

The number of people under health surveillance continues to decline—public health is currently monitoring 3,683 people (due to exposure to confirmed cases), which is 75 people less than yesterday.

The good news is that there aren’t any new healthcare outbreaks. Active outbreaks in healthcare remain in 19 facilities—17 longterm care facilities and two acute care units. There have been a cumulative total of 929 cases (533 residents and 388 staff members) involved in healthcare outbreaks.

More good news is that, once again, there weren’t any new deaths announced—a total of 250 people have died during the pandemic.

A cumulative total of 11,034 cases have been reported in B.C. during the pandemic, including:

•  5,800 cases in Fraser Health;
• 3,974 in Vancouver Coastal Health;
• 587 in Interior Health;
• 345 in Northern Health;
• 239 in Island Health;
• 89 cases among people who live outside Canada.

A total of 9,257 people have now recovered.

Henry said that today, B.C. is reporting its first confirmed case of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) in a child, who is under the age of five years old.

A health investigation began after the child began showing symptoms of the syndrome and was confirmed with MIS-C when a COVID-19 serology test results were positive.

Henry said that the child has since recovered and is at home.

During the pandemic, 16 children in B.C. have been investigated for possible MIS-C but none of them met the case definition, as they didn’t test positive for or had links to COVID-19.

Community exposures

Interior Health announced that there is a new community cluster at the FedEx shipping centre (6191 Airport Way) next to the Kelowna International Airport. Global News reported that three employees tested positive, and six other employees are in isolation.

Fraser Health has added two vehicle dealerships with exposure incidents, both of which include test drives from the sales lot.

One is Willowbrook Motors (19611 Langley Bypass) in Langley with potential exposures from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on October 3 and 4 and from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on October 5, 6, 7, and 8.

The second was at Willowbrook Used (19561 Langley Bypass) in Surrey with potential exposures from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on October 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

School exposures

Regional heralth authorities have added exposure incidents or expanded exposure dates at eight schools.

Fraser Health has expanded dates for exposures at one school.

Frank Hurt Secondary (13940 77th Avenue) in Surrey, which previously had an exposure incident from October 1 to 2, had added the dates from October 5 to 9 as exposures.

Vancouver Coastal Health added or expanded exposure dates at seven schools.

In Vancouver, there were five schools added or had expanded dates.

Gladstone Secondary (4105 Gladstone Street) had exposures from September 16 to 18, and from September 21 to 22.

Britannia Secondary School (1001 Cotton Drive) had exposures from September 30 to October 2, and on October 5.

Lord Kitchener Elementary School (3455 West King Edward Avenue) has an exposure event from October 5 and 7.

Sir Charles Tupper Secondary School (419 East 24th Avenue) previously had an exposure incident from October 1 to 2, and has the added dates of September 30, and October 7 to 9.

Notre Dame Regional Secondary School (2880 Venables Street) had a potential exposure on October 9.

In West Vancouver, Mulgrave School (2330 Cypress Bowl Lane), which previously had an exposure event from October 7 to 9, has expanded dates that now include October 5 and 6.

In Richmond, Richmond Secondary School (7171 Minoru Boulevard) had exposures from October 7 to 9.

Air travel

Meanwhile, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) has added these five flights confirmed with COVID-19 to its list:

• October 1: Air Transat flight 770, from Montreal to Vancouver;
• October 7: Air Canada flight 127, from Toronto to Vancouver;
• October 8: Air Canada flight 242, from Vancouver to Edmonton;
• October 8: Air Canada/Jazz flight 8241, from Terrace to Vancouver;
• October 10: WestJet flight 195, from Calgary to Victoria.

Anyone in affected rows (see the BCCDC website for details) or on these flights should watch themselves for symptoms for 14 days following the flight date. If you develop symptoms, immediately self-isolate and call 811 for an assessment and testing information.