No new COVID-19 deaths in B.C., but outbreaks at two offices

VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) — The province reported no new COVID-19 deaths Tuesday for the fourth time in a week, although four more cases were recorded.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry also announced two new outbreaks of the virus in office environments in the Fraser Health Authority.

Meanwhile, four care homes and one acute care unit have had their outbreaks declared over.

She called the outbreaks at New World Technologies in Abbotsford and Maersk Distribution Canada in Delta “very small” and said they were detected early by Fraser Health, which is working to prevent further transmission.

“This is a testament to how people are being very careful and vigilant and so these were detected early,” Henry said of the new outbreaks.

RELATED: No new COVID-19 deaths or outbreaks at long-term care homes in B.C.

She added the outbreak in the acute care ward at Abbotsford Regional Hospital, which affected 10 health care workers, is now over, as are those at four care homes: Amica Edgemont Village, Royal Arch Masonic Home, Chartwell Willow Retirement Community, and Eden Care Centre.

Henry also advised parents to be prepared for some form of the hybrid model of learning in elementary and secondary schools, which re-opened part-time this week, with voluntary attendance, to continue in the fall.

“So I think the premier made a comment the other day about how, you know, thinking of September’s like thinking of God years. Okay, so we don’t know what’s going to happen between now and then. And I expect that they’ll be very likely going to be a hybrid model, but I think it will be different than what we’re seeing right now. That’s one of the reasons why going back to school and having some in-classroom learning right now was so important,” she added.

“So we’ve put a lot of thought into it and I think it’s going well — small numbers of children, which is just fine.”

Having said that: Expect all students will be in classroom in some way in the fall, Dr Henry says. More in classroom but there will need to be some hybrid and things in place in case of outbreaks. We will look at how to do this better over the summer.#bcpoli #covid19 @news1130

— LizaYuzda (@LizaYuzda) June 2, 2020

Henry also warned again that testing for the virus is not reliable.

“Testing can help identify those who have COVID-19, so that people can rapidly isolate and that public health teams can start with our contact tracing and making sure that we’re stopping those transmission chains,” she added.

“It’s very important to understand that testing, however, right now, can be unreliable, particularly for people who don’t have symptoms or have very mild symptoms that they may not even recognize.”

Henry said testing alone does not insulate a business from needing to have a plan to help prevent spread of the virus.

Earlier in the day, B.C Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson suggested the province consider a regional approach to reopening more parts of the economy, those with lower COVID-19 case counts.

Henry, however, reiterated the province’s co-ordinated approach has worked well, to date.

“And I think we should have a continued approach, unless there’s good evidence that there’s a reason not to.”

Health min @adriandix & Dr Henry nixing idea suggested
by @Wilkinson4BC re changing the opening phases so some areas of BC can open up sooner and faster than other areas. Dix says less cases father from I-5 to be sure but keeping uniform BC approach#bcpoli #covid19 @news1130

— LizaYuzda (@LizaYuzda) June 2, 2020

Meanwhile, the number of deaths in B.C. remains at 165.

The number of cases recorded increased to 2,601, with 2,229 people recovered — a rate of 86 per cent.

Of those, 207 are active, with 31 people in hospital, including eight in intensive care. The latter is up three from the previous day.

Cases by health region, to date: 904 in Vancouver Coastal; 1,311 in Fraser; 127 in Vancouver Island; 195 in Interior; and 64 people in Northern.