BC health officials report 53 new COVID-19 cases since Saturday, three more deaths

845 of the total cases have been found within Vancouver Coastal Health, 1,027 cases were identified in Fraser Health, 124 cases in Vancouver Island Health, and 51 have been confirmed within the Northern Health region.

Of the cases, Dr. Henry notes that 1,417 people are now considered fully recovered.

There are currently 23 active outbreaks in long term care, acute care facilities or assisted living. Dr. Henry says there are no new outbreaks but an additional 13 cases have brought the total to 266 residents, and 168 staff affected.

Updating the status of community outbreaks, Dr. Henry says 7 cases have been identified related to the outbreak at Fraser Valley Specialty Poultry, while 54 cases are related to Superior Poultry, and 35 from United Poultry.

With the outbreak at the Mission Federal Correctional Facility, 134 people have tested positive, including 121 inmates, and 13 staff.

More cases have also been identified from people returning to B.C after working at the Kearl Lake oil sands project in Alberta. Dr. Henry urges those workers to self isolate when they return, as 15 people have tested positive in B.C, with additional family members impacted.

In regards to how health care professionals have been impacted by COVID-19 exposure, Dr. Henry says as of April 28, 21 per cent of the total cases in the province have been health care workers.

“428 people were healthcare workers across the province,” Dr. Henry states,”But thankfully a very small proportion of them – only 8 per cent were hospitalized. 3 per cent required intensive care, and unfortunately we had one person who died.”

Most people in the general public who have tested positive are between the ages of 30 and 60, but Dr. Henry says more people in their 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s have required hospitalization.

“As we get older, we start to see that men more than women have more severe illness that require them to be hospitalized.” She explains, “This is just breaking down some of the information that we presented two weeks ago that shows that most of the people that are in ICU are in their 60’s and 70’s. And again, more men than women required that critical care.”

She notes that younger people are not immune, and several people in their 20’s and 30’s have needed hospitalization, or intensive care.

For more about today’s update, click here to access the latest from the BC Government.

For information from the BC Centre for Disease Control, click here.

by Dylana Kneeshaw

BC health officials report 53 new COVID-19 cases since Saturday, three more deaths

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