Dr. Reka Gustafson, deputy provincial health officer (Province of B.C./Flickr photo)

By Pete McIntyre

59 cases in IH

B.C. Covid update Friday: 508 new cases, 72 variant cases

Feb 19, 2021 | 3:41 PM

British Columbia is ending the work week with 508 new COVID-19 cases, including 59 in Interior Health.

That’s down from the 617 cases on Thursday.

There have been six more deaths.

Thursday (Feb. 18) saw the highest number of COVID vaccine doses administered in one day since B.C.’s program started with 12,250.

The overall number of shots in arms is at 192,942, including 36,923 people with second doses.

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Dr. Reka Gustafson, deputy provincial health officer who was filling in for Dr. Bonnie Henry Friday, said those numbers are good news.

“With every individual that is protected through vaccination, we are all safer,” Gustafson remarked.

New case counts by health region

• 116 Vancouver Coastal Health
• 286 Fraser Health
• 22 Island Health
• 59 Interior Health
• 25 Northern Health

Dr. Gustafson reported 72 cases of variants in B.C.: 52 of the United Kingdom variant (B117) and 20 of the South African (B1351).

There are 4,486 active cases in B.C., with 217 people in hospital and 61 in critical or intensive care.

Currently 7,699 people are being actively monitored for the virus due to exposure, and 69,970 people who had COVID-19 are considered fully recovered.

There is one new health care outbreak at Florentine long term care in Interior Health (Merritt).

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Update on outbreaks in Interior Health:

·         The Florentine in Merritt has one resident case.

·         Carrington Place in Vernon has two cases: one resident and one staff.

·         Highridge/Singh House group home in Kamloops has 13 cases: five residents and eight staff.

·         Westsyde Care Residence group home in Kamloops has 30 cases: 16 residents and 14 staff, with one death connected to this outbreak.

·         Royal Inland Hospital has 105 cases: 36 patients and 69 staff, with three deaths connected to this outbreak.

·         Brocklehurst Gemstone long-term care in Kamloops has 32 cases: 24 residents and eight staff, with two deaths connected to this outbreak.

·         Creekside Landing long-term care in Vernon has 40 cases: 25 residents and 15 staff, with one death connected to this outbreak.

·         Noric House long-term care in Vernon has 67 cases: 39 residents and 28 staff, with 10 deaths connected to this outbreak.

Other updates

·        There is one additional case linked to the cluster at Big White.

·        There are three additional cases linked to the cluster in the Williams Lake area.

·        The Fernie area community cluster has been contained.

·        The outbreak at Canim Lake First Nation has been declared over.