a new daily record for COVID-19 cases

British Columbia saw a new daily record for COVID-19 cases yesterday, with an additional 911 people testing positive. According to the British Columbia COVID 19 Dashboard there are now 8,472 active cases in the province.

Photo of Dr Bonnie Henry courtesy BC Government

COVID 19 cases in North Vancouver Island

The number of active cases is smaller in North Vancouver Island: 26, but a week ago, on Friday Nov 20th, there were 12. A little more than a month before that, on Friday October 16th, there were no cases.

The BC Centre for Disease Control did not list any cases in the Greater Campbell River Health Area, which includes Cortes and the other Discovery Islands, during August and September. There was actually a case in Campbell River on September 28th, but that data is reported under October.

COVID 19 reached Cortes Island

Up until two days ago, there has not been a confirmed case on Cortes Island.

There have been rumours. Someone picking up take-out food at Hollyhock, during the last week of August, spoke of a confirmed case on the island – but that was not correct. There were no active cases anywhere in the Greater Campbell River Health Area at that time. There may have been an active case on Cortes sometime prior to August, but this has not been confirmed.

COVID has finally reached our island.

Now one of the elder residents of the Klahoose village has contracted what Indiginews described as a mild case. That entire community has gone into lockdown. Chief Kevin Peacey said a security team will be at the entrance to Tork Rd, monitoring traffic to and from the reserve. This is currently limited to emergency and essential trips.

The Squirrel Cove General Store closed down on Thursday, to assess the situation, but now all of the stores on Cortes Island are open for business.

Data taken from the British Columbia COVID-19 Dashboard

Hospitalizations and Deaths

Dr Bonnie Henrie says “There are 301 individuals currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 69 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation. Currently, 10,430 people are under active public health monitoring as a result of identified exposure to known cases …”

As of 4:30 yesterday, Friday November 27th, the British Columbia COVID 18 Dashboard shows that 395 people across the province have died of COVID. Six of these were on Vancouver island, but there have not been any fatalities here in recent months.

Dr Bonnie Henry once again confirmed that most of the deaths were people in their 70s and 80s. She described them as “our seniors, our elders, grandparents, spouses, family members.”

There are currently 301 people in British Columbian hospitals. For months, there have not been any Vancouver Island residents among them. Now there are 6, and 2 are in critical care.

Keep your distances

Dr Bonnie Henry advises everyone to keep to the established protocols, “That means keeping your distance, wearing your mask, washing your hands, keeping your numbers small, keeping local. Support our local businesses who need our support, whether that’s shopping online and picking up or booking ahead or picking a time when it’s not busy.”

Links if interest

Top photo credit: Squirrel Cove by Marcin Chady via Flickr (CC BY SA, 2.0 License)

This program was funded by a grant from the Community Radio Fund of Canada and the Government of Canada’s Local Journalism Initiative.

Cortes Currents