Afternoon Update for April 13, 2020
Correction: Monday 13th 2020—An earlier version of this update stated 89 cases in the Island Health region. This has been corrected to 87.
NANAIMO —Its been a deadly weekend in BC as COVID-19 continues to take its toll. Eleven more people died from the disease since Saturday. All were on the lower mainland and most were in long term care homes. There have been 3 new cases of the virus reported in the Island Health region since Saturday, bringing our total to 87. Province-wide, there were 45 new cases, totalling 1490 in BC.
Meanwhile, the outbreak at the Mission Medium Security prison has reported 35 COVID-19 cases, with 8 having to be hospitalized. BC's provincial health officer says she's keeping a close eye on that outbreak because of concerns over the high percentage of those needing critical care.
Dr.Bonnie Henry says she's very pleased with the initiative requiring travellers returning to BC to have self-isolation plans in place. Henry says 1700 people returned to BC over the weekend, but only 13 of them needed help from authorities to find them a place to self-isolate. She says a further 207 were contacted in follow up to ensure they had put their plans into effect. The Minister of Health, Adrian Dix says he hopes other provinces will follow BCs lead and require travellers to have self-isolation plans that are verified.
Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix. 📷: Province of British Columbia (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Both Adrian Dix and Dr. Henry tried to allay concerns over weekend travel numbers, saying they believe most people who travelled on weekend ferries had good reason to do so. Henry says students returning home from school and others who commute from work likely contributed to some busy sailings. Dix pointed to numbers provided by BC ferries that show Easter weekend travel on the major routes was only 8 per cent of the total from last year. Travel on the Southern Gulf Island routes was 80 per cent below the same period last year.
The Health officials say they will present new models and graphs on Friday that will help explain who has contracted the virus and who is likely to in the future.
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