Once again, the good news is that case counts to decrease in many categories. Unfortunately, the number of deaths was high today.

B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a joint statement that as of today, vaccination registration is now open to anyone from 12 to 17 years old. More details will be available tomorrow.

In addition, anyone who was immunized before April 15, when the provincial online registration system launched, should register online in order to receive a notification about when it’s time to book your second dose. The online system may not have contact information for those who are not registered.   

Those who are unsure if they are registered can check the provincial website or call 1-833-838-2323.

Meanwhile, B.C. RCMP announced today that it will be increasing road checks over the Victoria Day long weekend (May 22 to 24) to deter non-essential travel in the province.

B.C. update: May 19

B.C. has 521 new cases (including three epi-linked cases) today, according to a joint statement from Henry and Dix.

Today’s count includes (by region):

• 335 new cases in Fraser Health region;
• 77 in Vancouver Coastal Health;
• 62 in Interior Health;
• 29 in Northern Health;
• 18 in Island Health;
• no one from outside of Canada.

Active cases continue to decrease—with 75 fewer cases since yesterday, there are 4,815 active cases today.

Hospitalized cases also dropped—currently 340 individuals are in hospitals (a decrease of 20 people), and 118 of those patients are in intensive care (a decrease of nine people).

Unfortunately, the death toll is high. There were eight new COVID-19-related deaths over the past day. B.C. has reported a cumulative total of 1,658 people who have died of COVID-19-related reasons during the pandemic.

With 602 recoveries since yesterday, a total of 133,985 have now recovered.

B.C. has recorded a cumulative total of 140,596 cases during the pandemic.

In B.C.’s immunization program, 2,623,907 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and AstraZeneca vaccines have now been administered, and 135,246 of those are second doses.

Outbreaks and exposures

Northern Health declared a healthcare outbreak today at Heritage Manor II in Fort St. John, where three residents tested positive.

Henry and Dix stated that the outbreak at Sandalwood Retirement Resort in Kelowna is over.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) added the following flights to its public exposure lists (affected row information is listed at the BCCDC website when available):

• May 4: Air Canada 241, Edmonton to Vancouver;
• May 6: Air Canada/Jazz 8401, Calgary to Kelowna;
• May 11: Air Canada 314, Vancouver to Montreal;
• May 11: Air Canada/Jazz 8563, Smithers to Vancouver;
• May 14: Air Canada 119, Toronto to Vancouver;
• May 14: Air Canada 240, Vancouver to Edmonton;
• May 14: Delta 4476, Seattle to Vancouver.

Loblaw added two Real Canadian Superstore locations to its list of stores with staff members who have tested positive:

• a fourth employee at the Metrotown store (1105 Eaton Centre at 4700 Kingsway) in Burnaby, who last worked on May 11, has tested positive;
• an employee who tested positive last worked on May 11 at 2280 Baron Road in Kelowna.

McDonald’s added two locations with staff members who have tested positive:

• one employee who last worked on May 15 at 2532 Clearbrook Road in Abbotsford;
• one employee who last worked on May 17 at 6333 King George Avenue in Surrey.