243 new cases of COVID-19 in B.C. as surge in Interior continues

Vancouver -

B.C.'s Ministry of Health has announced another 243 cases of COVID-19, most of them in the Interior Health region, where infections have been surging in recent days.

There are currently 1,231 active cases of the coronavirus in the province, and 693 of them are in Interior Health.

Relatively few people are in hospital, however. Forty-seven were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Friday, including 16 people who were in intensive care.

There were no new deaths announced in Friday's update.

The latest numbers pushed B.C.'s rolling seven-day average for daily new infections to 150, and the 243 new cases represent the highest single-day total the province has recorded since late May.

Most of the latest cases - 131 - were recorded in Interior Health, where officials recently declared an outbreak in the Central Okanagan region and re-imposed mandatory mask rules.

Elsewhere in the province, Fraser Health added 56 cases in the latest update, Vancouver Coastal Health added 32, Island Health added 13 and Northern Health added nine. There were also two new cases detected in B.C. among people who normally reside outside Canada.

Since the pandemic began, there have been 149,889 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in B.C. and 1,771 related deaths.

As of Friday, more than 3 million people in B.C. had received a second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The province has now administered 6,774,257 doses of vaccines, overall.

That's enough to cover 81.1 per cent of eligible B.C. residents ages 12 and older with at least a first dose. Nearly 65 per cent (64.9 per cent) of people in that age group have received a second dose.

Speaking to reporters during a news conference on the ongoing heat wave Friday, Health Minister Adrian Dix described vaccination as critically important to the province's management of the coronavirus going forward.

"What we continue to see is that, overwhelmingly, our new cases of COVID-19 are amongst unimmunized people, and we have to assist them in getting immunized to the maximum possible degree," Dix said.

Asked whether the focus on immunization reflected an impending shift in the province's strategy similar to that underway in Alberta, Dix was adamant that no such change is forthcoming.

Alberta health officials recently announced that they would no longer be requiring people who test positive for COVID-19 to self-isolate, as of Aug. 16. Close contacts are no longer required to self-isolate as of this week. 

"There is no plan, none, to change our approach to self-isolation with respect to COVID-19 in B.C.," Dix said Friday. "No plans, none, to change our approach to contact tracing. No plans, none, for public health not to be fully engaged, as they've been, in the COVID-19 pandemic."

B.C.'s focus on encouraging as much immunization as possible will continue alongside mitigation efforts such as self-isolation, contact tracing and targeted restrictions like the reinstated mask mandate in the Central Okanagan, Dix said.

He added that blaming people who have not yet been vaccinated for spreading the virus is not helpful. Answering their questions and encouraging them to get their shots is, he said.

"There's a lot of desire, I know, to take an us versus them approach," Dix said. "But this is only us."