B.C. COVID-19 update: 29 new cases and message for long weekend

Jul 30, 2020 | 3:52 PM

British Columbians are encouraged to enjoy the B.C. Day long weekend, but to do it responsibly with COVID-19 safety guidelines in mind.

That was the emphasis of comments made at Thursday’s media update with Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix.

Henry announced 29 new cases in the province for a total of 3,591.

That includes four new cases in Interior Health.

There are 130 cases linked to Kelowna since late June under a new classification.

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“Previously, the Kelowna cluster investigation counts were based on cases linked to businesses or gatherings in Kelowna, primarily downtown. Currently we are seeing more broad community transmission so we are expanding our reporting to focus on any cases that are linked to Kelowna during their exposure or infectious period . This has caused the number of cases to increase but this is due to previously reported cases being re-classified and not new cases reported in Kelowna,” said a statement from IH.

All 130 Kelowna cases are residents of Interior Health.

There are no new staff cases at Kelowna General Hospital today.

There are 242 active cases in B.C., with five people in hospital, two in critical care or ICU, which Dix noted was the lowest hospitalization number since the middle of March.

There have been no new virus-related deaths, and 3,155 people have recovered from the virus.

There are no new health care facility or community outbreaks, with 59 associated cases with Fraser Valley Packers, a berry packing plant in Abbotsford.

Dr. Henry passed along thanks to residents who have been committed to preventing the spread of the virus.

“Thank you for resetting and rejoining our efforts to push our COVID-19 curve down and keep it low and slow in B.C. so we can manage this outbreak,” Henry said.

Henry gave special thanks to young people for their efforts for who she says the pandemic has been a challenge.

“Let’s keep this effort going this weekend and every weekend this summer,” she said.

Minister Dix said as people travel around B.C. this summer, he said it’s not a holiday from the skills that we’ve been taught to stop the spread.

“We must remember to pack our COVID sense, and use our COVID sense, wherever we are in B.C.” Dix said.

Dix had several alternative ideas for how to celebrate B.C. Day.

“B.C. Day should also stand for ‘Battle COVID’ weekend. It should also stand for ‘Break the Chain’ and ‘Bend the Curve.’ That would be a B.C. Day to remember,” the minister said.

Case counts: