Island has another COVID case, one of 30 new ones in province

Vancouver Island has recorded another case of COVID-19, one of 30 new cases around the province announced on Thursday.

Nine cases remain active of the 142 recorded in the Island Health region to date. Public-health officials do not pinpoint where the cases are located unless there is an outbreak in which all potentially infected people can’t be found.

There are now 304 active cases around the province, including 16 in hospital, of which three are in intensive-care units or critical care.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the key to preventing community transmission is to keep groups small. Noting that restaurants are required to have no more than six people at a table, Henry said that might be a “manageable” limit for people.

“You can use this as your guide for other social activities, whether it’s a small group going to the beach, whether you’re going to park, whether you’re going to have a get together at a friend’s place,” said Henry.

To date, 3,392 people in B.C. have tested positive for COVID-19, though more are suspected to have been infected.

Henry suggested Wednesday that some regional restrictions might be implemented in the Interior Health region, citing outbreaks related to parties and other gatherings held around Canada Day in the Okanagan area.

But on Thursday, Henry said it has become clear that all health authorities are experiencing, to varying degrees, large numbers of people going to rental properties, houseboats or resorts.

She said that the outbreak in Kelowna has exposed people to the disease across B.C., suggesting continuing with a provincewide approach is the best option. “It’s become very clear that this is not just a local issue and that it’s not geography that is the issue.”

Henry also said she doesn’t expect the province to mandate masks in outdoor spaces, noting some people cannot effectively wear masks and there is not enough community spread of the virus in B.C. to warrant such “a heavy-handed approach.”

“We know that it is an additional layer on top of the other layers that we use to keep each other safe and it is the least effective of the many layers that we have.”

The provincial health officer said she’ll continue to recommend that people wear a mask when they cannot keep a safe physical distance from others — on transit and in smaller stores where barriers may not be in place, for example.

“We do it as a matter of courtesy and respect for our community,” said Henry, noting she wears a mask in many such settings.

“And I have seen many more people wearing masks and that’s very gratifying.”

Henry said mandatory masks could be an option if community transmission ramps up in places such as transit and retail stores.

She said orders are being developed to restrict the number of people on houseboats and or in vacation rentals.

It will be the responsibility of owner/operators to ensure that the restrictions are followed.

“We are working out the specifics. It will be available within the next day.”

She said restrictions will be built into rental agreements for all vacation properties, rental properties and resorts.

People get together and then they have parties and they invite people over,” Henry said. “So it will be restrictions on the numbers of people, based on the size of houseboat, or the boat, or the room, but also restrictions on visitors that will be in those rental properties as well."

There was one additional death announced on Thursday, in a longterm care home in the Vancouver Coastal health region.

B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix expressed condolences to the family and friends of people who have died in the pandemic.

He said COVID-19 will be a challenge “for months and months and months to come.”

“We’ve got to act in such a way that we understand that,” said Dix.