Dr. Bonnie Henry has announced 82 new cases of COVID-19 in British Columbia today, including two new in the Interior Health Region. There are 69 people currently in hospital, including two in the Interior. 19 of those in hospital are currently in the ICU.
Yesterday BC marked a milestone in issuing a record number of COVID-19 tests. 10,899 tests were performed on Sept. 30, 2020 with 82 coming back positive.
“I think that’s just an incredible feat as our laboratories have been ramping up across the province I know there’s been some challenges in some places but this really speaks to the amazing work that people are doing across the province to make sure that we can get people the testing they need as quickly as possible,” said Dr. Henry.
Dr. Bonnie Henry noted that there are no new community outbreaks, but that there are exposure events listed on the BC CDC website, which includes schools. Exposure events in schools were explained by Dr. Henry, as well as the contact tracing that takes place following the exposure event.
“A school exposure is when a single person is confirmed positive for COVID-19 and has been in the school during their infectious period,” explained Dr. Henry.
“That’s the common definition that all of us are using around the province. Every time there’s a school exposure public health contact tracing kicks into gear. There are things that contact tracers do that are a skill set that we have developed and we’re very good at. We’ve done it for years and we now have developed the skills that we know to understand what type of contact puts someone at risk of being exposed to this virus, COVID-19.”
Although there have been COVID-19 cases within the school system, Dr. Henry assures that an individual exposure does not mean an outbreak or illness is imminent.
“Even if you’ve been in a school setting with someone you may not be a close contact, you may not be at risk of exposure yourself.”
At this point, there have been no outbreaks within schools in the province. An outbreak is defined as ongoing, widespread transmission.
“We have not had any outbreaks in our schools yet in British Columbia, it is a possibility, we have seen it happen in other places and we will be watching for that.”
