While the new COVID-19 case count for B.C. remained above 100 again, active and hospitalized cases also increased.

However, there weren’t any new outbreaks and there was only one new school added to the list of exposure incidents.

B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Deputy Health Minister Stephen Brown, in a joint statement for today’s update, announced there are 125 new cases in the province (which includes one epi-linked case).

After several days of decreases, active cases rose again, this time increasing by 16 cases to 1,284 active cases today.

Hospitalized cases also increased, from 69 people yesterday to 72 individuals in hospital today, with 21 of those patients in intensive care (one more person than yesterday).

What has decreased is the number of people (exposed to confirmed cases) public health is monitoring—a difference of 135 people from 3,337 individuals yesterday to 3,202 people today.

Some good news is that there aren’t any new community or healthcare outbreaks. Active outbreaks remain in 14 longterm care facilities and three acute care facilities. 

In addition, there aren’t any new deaths, leaving the total number of fatalities at 234 people who have died of COVID-19-related causes.

During the pandemic, there has been a cumulative total of 9,138 cases in B.C., including:

• 3,340 cases in Vancouver Coastal Health;
• 4,658 in Fraser Health;
• 208 in Island Health;
• 533 in Interior Health;
• 312 in Northern Health;
• 87 people who live outside Canada.

A total of 7,591 people in B.C. have now recovered from the coronavirus.

Although past days have seen numerous schools added to school exposure lists, there was only one today.

Fraser Health added Beaver Creek Elementary (6505 123a Street) in Surrey, with exposure dates from September 21 to 23.

Also, there weren’t any new exposure events added to regional health authority lists.

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

• September 20: Air Canada 127, from Toronto to Vancouver;

• September 21: Nippon Airways 116, from Tokyo, Japan, to Vancouver;

• September 21: Air Canada 311, from Montreal to Vancouver;

• September 25: Air Canada 45, from Delhi, India, to Vancouver.

For affected row information, visit the BCCDC website.

Anyone in the affected rows or on these flights should monitor themselves for symptoms for 14 days after the flight date. Those in B.C. who do develop symptoms should immediately self-isolate and call 811 to find out about testing.

Meanwhile, several news outlets reported today that filming has been suspended on several screen productions in Metro Vancouver due to delays in test results.

TV series that are affected include Riverdale (which was one of the first productions in Metro Vancouver to suspend production during the onset of the pandemic due to a positive case on set), Nancy Drew, Charmed, Batwoman, Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl.

In other news, Tri-City News reported today that a prisoner at the North Fraser Pretrial Centre on Kingsway Avenue tested positive for COVID-19 on September 23, and a health investigation is underway.

In addition, RCMP stated today that officers arrested and seized the vessel of a U.S. boater for violating the Quarantine Act after he entered B.C. waters to pick up his girlfriend in Surrey without reporting his border crossing.