Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says the COVID-19 curve in B.C. is trending in a direction we do not want to go, and that’s upwards.
In today’s update, 34 new cases were reported in the province.
Three of which are epi-linked, which means the person was never tested but is presumed to have COVID-19 because they developed symptoms and were close contacts of a confirmed case.
This brings the provincial total to 3,362, with 285 active cases and a recovery rate of 85 per cent.
There’s one new case on Vancouver Island, bumping its total up to 141.
According to Dr. Henry, around 1,000 people are self-isolating at home, across the entire province, because they have been in contact with someone with COVID-19.
She says we all need to “take a step back and look at the things we need to do to bend our curve back down where we need to keep it.”
We’ve proven that we know how to do this, Dr. Henry says, and now each of us needs to do “our piece to make that happen.”
“You can protect yourself and your friends and loved ones by protecting their household bubble,” Dr. Henry says. “Keeping those bubbles small, making sure you’re not exposing lots of people, spending time with those you know, and using our layers of protection are what is going to help us control the clusters and the transmission we’re seeing now and bend our curve back down.”
She’s asking you to help stop the spread of COVID-19 with what we know works, safe physical distancing.
“We know that being outside is better than being inside, and it is good to see so many people enjoying our parks and beaches. If you are in a crowded location, being outside is not enough,” Dr. Henry says.
She says the virus can still be transmitted if having close conversations with a large number of people even if it’s outside.
With this being said, Dr. Henry adds that we can all have a fun and safe summer despite COVID-19.
“We are not going to go back to things we had to do earlier this year. In order to keep going forward, we need to go back to safe social interactions. We need to play safe and stay safe.”
