The province has recorded one new at-home death, Dr. Bonnie Henry said in her Monday (April 6) update.
The person who died is a man in his 40s, B.C.’s top doctor said, and he was a known positive case. The province has seen 63 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 48 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 1,266. there have been 39 deaths due to COVID-19, with 37 occurring in people 70 or older. The two younger deaths were of the man in his 40s and one more in his 60s.
Of those 1,266 cases, 783 have recovered, pushing B.C.’s recovery rate up to just shy of 62 per cent. There are 444 active cases in the province.
Henry said there are 140 people in hospital, 72 of whom are in ICU. As of Friday (April 4), 48,508 had been tested for the virus in B.C.
B.C.’s top doctor said she is relieved to see new cases slow in the province in contrast to Ontario and Quebec.
“Part of it is the system we had in place to detect the cases in our community and part of it was luck,” Henry said.
But British Columbian can’t let up.
“This is in the middle of our critical weeks here for COVID-19 and we must be steadfast in our commitment to hold the line,” she said.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said the hospital occupancy rate is at 58 per cent for regular beds and 53 per cent for critical care beds.
He urged all religious communities to celebrate upcoming holidays, whether Easter, Ramadan, Passover or any others in a safe way.
Both Henry and Dix said there were not any issues with personal protective equipment, but urged people to save any medical masks for healthcare workers.
Henry said that non-medical masks, as green-lit by Canada’s chief medical officer Monday morning, can stop the droplets that spread the virus, although they will not protect the wearer from infection.
She said British Columbians still need to abide by the other rules set out, including proven measures like physical distancing, as “this virus can’t jump six feet.”
Henry noted it was stressful time for families with elders in longterm care but said now was not the time to disrupt their lives and try to take them home.
“For many people it’s not an option,” she said. “The focus we all need to have is to do everything we can to protect our vulnerable seniors and elders, particularly in longterm care.”
The total case numbers, by health authority: 586 in Vancouver Coastal Health, 450 in Fraser Health, 79 in Island Health, 128 in Interior Health and 23 in Northern Health.
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