VANCOUVER -- BC Emergency Health Services says the rapid response paramedic team it sent to Fort St. James on Wednesday has received a warm welcome in the community experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases.

On Thursday, Northern Health said there are roughly 40 active cases of the coronavirus in the Omineca region, which includes Fort St. James, a town of about 1,500 people.

"We are grateful for the BC EHS support to manage patient transport needs in the area, and the ongoing collaboration with First Nations Health Authority, First Nations communities, and other health-care partners," the health authority said in a statement.

BC EHS deployed the four-person team from Metro Vancouver on Wednesday. The primary purpose of their four-day mission is to transport COVID-19 patients to facilities outside the community for care, the paramedic service said.

Secondarily, the team is responsible for assisting health-care workers at Stuart Lake General Hospital in Fort St. James.

The team consists of two critical care paramedics, one advanced care paramedic and one primary care paramedic, a group EHS describes as an "ideal resource" for a small community experiencing a large number of positive COVID-19 tests.

"This team of specialized paramedics was developed as part of our COVID-19 pandemic response efforts and this is the first time the team has been mobilized," EHS said in a statement.

The dispatching of a rapid response team to Fort St. James prompted questions for provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry during her live briefing on the pandemic Thursday.

Asked why residents of Fort St. James weren't told sooner that there was a cluster of cases forming in their region, Henry stressed that no outbreak has been declared. All of the infections that have developed there are being traced and managed by public health, in the same way that cases everyone in the province are managed, she said.

Henry added that the province has been hesitant, in the past, to release the number of cases of COVID-19 detected in specific regions because of a desire to maintain the privacy of those who test positive.

Now that B.C. has seen a province-wide surge in the number of cases, however, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control is publishing data by local health area on a weekly basis, Henry said.

Still, the number of infections in one's community shouldn't change behaviour, the provincial health officer said. The coronavirus is spreading everywhere in B.C. right now, and the public health orders and guidance that have been put in place are intended to help minimize that spread everywhere.

"It is a reminder to all of us, no matter how small your community or how large your community, this virus is transmitted through people and it's transmitted to the people we are closest to," she said.