The number of active COVID-19 cases in Delta climbed last week after falling the two weeks prior.
Every Wednesday, the BC Centre for Disease Control releases a map showing the geographic distribution of COVID-19 cases by local health area of residence. The latest weekly map shows Delta had 220 cases for the week of April 25 to May 1, 28 more than the week previous.
Delta’s case total had been falling the two weeks previous after climbing for 10 straight weeks to hit a record high of 262 the week ending April 10.
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The overall number of active cases in the Fraser Health region decreased for the second straight week to 3,657, down 392 from the week previous.
‘All but four of the 13 local health areas in the Fraser Health region saw decreases from the previous week, most notably in the “hot spots” of Surrey (1,671, down 89) and Tri-Cities (277, down 64), as well as Burnaby (309, down 88) and Langley (225, down 78). Before that, Surrey’s number had been trending upward for 10 straight weeks.
Other than Delta, increases were seen in Abbostford (498, up 9), Agassiz-Harrison (10, up 7) and Hope (5, up 2).
Wednesday’s map release came as health officials reported 572 new COVID-19 cases in the province over the past 24 hours — 362 of those in the Fraser Health region — for a total of 6,877 active cases in the province, and no new deaths. B.C. has seen a total of 132,925 cases and 1,594 deaths since the pandemic began.
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Also on Wednesday, the BC CDC released an updated map showing the total cumulative cases by local health area from the start of the pandemic through the end of April 2021. That map shows there were a total of 4,327 COVID-19 cases in Delta through to April 30, meaning there were 990 new cases last month, compared to 614 in March.
The map also shows there were 7,043 new cases in Surrey in April, compared to 4,406 in March, and 17,086 new cases across the Fraser Health region, compared to 10,554 in March. Vancouver Coastal Health, meanwhile, had 7,497 new cases in April, compared to 5,726 in March.
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As of Thursday morning (May 6), there were no outbreaks at any Delta long-term care, assisted living or independent living facilities or public exposure notifications.
Health officials have temporarily closed two Delta workplaces due to the number of cases among their workers. English Bay Chocolate Factory, located at 1066 Cliveden Ave. on Annacis Island, was partially closed on May 3 (the closure applies only to the chocolate processing facility), while A&T Insurance Broker, located at 8697 Scott Road, was closed on April 26.
The closure follows an announcement by Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry April 8 that workplaces with three or more people who have COVID-19 and likely transmission in the workplace will be ordered to close, unless it is in the overriding public interest to keep it open. The closure generally last for 10 days unless otherwise determined by health officials.
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Meanwhile, Fraser Health’s website listed exposures at seven Delta schools as of Thursday morning: Cougar Canyon Elementary (April 22), Delta Secondary (April 23), Gibson Elementary (April 26, 27 and 28), North Delta Secondary (April 23, 26, 27, 28 and 29), Pebble Hill Traditional Elementary (April 26, 27 and 28), Sands Secondary (April 23) and Immaculate Conception School (April 27 and 28).
Fraser Health defines exposure as “a single person with lab-confirmed COVID-19 infection who attended school during their infectious period.” Two or more individuals is defined as a cluster, while an outbreak describes a situation involving “multiple individuals with lab-confirmed COVID-19 infections when transmission is likely widespread within the school setting.”
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