There are 76 people now recovering from COVID-19 infections in hospitals in four health regions in B.C. – the highest number since May 5, more than 22 weeks ago, when there were 78 people hospitalized.
Provincial health officer Bonnie Henry said October 8 that four health regions have COVID-19 patients in hospital care. Her data only added up to 74 cases, but she said that 35 people are in Vancouver Coastal Health hospitals, while 37 are in Fraser Health hospitals, one is in an Island Health hospital and one is in a Northern Health hospital.
There were 110 people newly identified as infected in the past 24 hours, after the province conducted 12,052 tests. That makes for a 0.9% positive-test rate, which is lower than that rate has been since October 1, when there were 82 cases and a 0.75% positivity rate.
Having a positivity rate that is less than 1%, Henry said, "gives us a good measure that we're holding our own in the community in B.C."
Henry commented on how the 10,000-case barrier was breached for the first time since the virus first appeared in the province in late January, and now sits at 10,066.
"We know that that's an underrepresentation of the impact of this virus and that there have been more people, particularly early on, when our access to testing was limited, who have been infected with this virus," she said.
Of those infected, 8,398 people, or 83.4% have recovered, while 245, or about 2.4% have died and 1,394 people, or about 13.8% are battling infections. The remainding cases are unaccounted for, and likely left the province without alerting health officials. One new death from the virus was recorded overnight.
The breakdown of all known infections in B.C. by health region is now:
• 3,693 in Vancouver Coastal Health (up 49);
• 5,174 in Fraser Health (up 55);
• 223 in Island Health (up one);
• 557 in Interior Health (no change);
• 330 in Northern Health (up five); and
• 89 people who reside outside Canada (down one). It is not known why this number went down.
There remain three active outbreaks at B.C. hospitals. all of which are in the Lower Mainland:
• Surrey Memorial Hospital in Surrey;
• St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver; and
• Delta Hospital in Delta.
The outbreak at the Milieu Children and Family Services Society community-living facility in Courtenay is declared over.
That leaves 14 outbreaks at seniors' long-term care or assisted-living facilities:
• Haro Park Centre long-term care facility in Vancouver;
• Banfield Pavilion long-term care facility in Vancouver;
• Point Grey Private Hospital long-term care facility in Vancouver;
• Harrison West at Elim Village in Surrey;
• Peace Portal Seniors Village in Surrey;
• Cherington Place long-term care facility in Surrey;
• Evergreen Hamlets long-term care facility in Surrey;
• Chartwell Crescent Gardens in Surrey;
• Langley Lodge in Langley;
• White Rock Seniors' Village in White Rock;
• Thornebridge Gardens in New Westminster;
• KinVillage assisted living facility in Tsawwassen;
• New Vista Care Home long-term care facility in Burnaby; and
• George Derby Centre in Burnaby.
