B.C. COVID-19 orders extended until Feb. 5

Jan 7, 2021 | 3:35 PM

The current provincial health orders (PHO) on gatherings and events in B.C. have been extended to Feb. 5, 2021.

“This means that the same requirements that we have had, including restrictions on social gatherings in people’s homes, on all events, in public and private venues, and the restrictions on sports activities, continue to apply,” Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer, said Thursday (Jan. 7).

The PHO’s were due to expire tomorrow (Jan. 8). Click here to see the latest updates.

Henry said with cases trending upward of late, the orders are needed to “hold the line.”

Henry’s announcement came after B.C. reported 761 new COVID-19 cases, with 96 in the Interior Health region.

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There are also eight new deaths, all seniors in long term care with one death in Interior Health, at McKinney Place long-term care in Oliver (14 deaths connected to that facility), with the others in the Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health regions.

Dr. Henry said there are two more cases of the variant virus, both household contacts of the original case in Island Health, and they don’t believe anyone else is at risk.

Henry said 41,064 British Columbians, in every health region, have received the COVID-19 vaccine, with an ongoing focus on seniors and staff in long-term care homes

New cases in the other health regions include: 94 in Vancouver Coastal, 484 in Fraser, 23 in Island Health, and 64 in Northern Health.

There are now 6,349 active cases in the province with 372 people in hospital and 74 in intensive or critical care.

With the eight new deaths, the total is at 970.

Henry also announced a new system to report COVID cases as of the lab result date, instead of the reported date.

Interior Health update

IH is reporting 96 new cases overnight for a total of 4,406.

There has been a change to daily reporting (see below**)

· 822 cases are active and on isolation.

· Thirty-three people are in hospital; eight of them in ICU.

· Total number of deaths in IH has risen to 35 with one additional death at McKinney Place in Oliver.

“Today, Interior Health is reporting an additional death at McKinney Place in Oliver, our 35th of this challenging pandemic. It is important for us to remember that each death impacts families, friends and entire communities. With increased COVID-19 activity throughout Interior Health, it remains critically important for all of us to follow public health orders and guidance to protect ourselves and those we love,” Susan Brown, president and CEO, Interior Health, said.

**About Daily Reporting:

Today Dr. Henry presented a change to daily reporting. Provincial reporting of new cases by health authority will now come directly from a single lab system automated database in B.C.

This reduces the lag time in the current system that sees the lab cases provided to the health authorities who then provide the updated numbers to BCCDC for public reporting. Daily data will reflect 24 hour periods from midnight to midnight.This approach will be more streamlined and simpler, and will reduce the risk of errors in transcribing the data at the various points between the lab, health authorities and BCCDC.

The new reporting will also be reflected in the rolling averages that provide a better sense of immediate trends.
What does not change is that every single case is still counted and followed up on by public health in Interior Health.

Update on outbreaks:

· Sunnybank long-term care in Oliver has six cases: two residents and four staff.

· Creekside Landing long-term care in Vernon has 13 cases: 10 residents and three staff

· Williams Lake Seniors Village has two cases: one resident and one staff.

· Noric House long-term care in Vernon has 20 cases: 18 residents and two staff

· Heritage Square long-term care in Vernon has 31 cases: 21 residents and 10 staff, with two deaths connected to this outbreak.

· Heritage Retirement Residence in West Kelowna has 42 cases: 37 residents and five staff, with one death connected to this outbreak.

· Teck mining operations remains at 16 IH cases linked to the outbreak.

· has 77 cases: 54 residents and 23 staff, with 14 deaths connected to this outbreak.

· Village by the Station long-term care in Penticton has nine cases: five residents and four staff, with one death connected to this outbreak.

· Mountainview Village long-term care in Kelowna has 16 cases: eight residents and eight staff, with two deaths connected to this outbreak.

by Pete McIntyre