There are now 2,171 cases of COVID-19 in B.C., after health officials announced 26 new cases Saturday.
According to Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, there are 832 cases in Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Coastal Health (VCH), 992 in Fraser Health, 123 on Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Island, 175 in Interior Health and 49 in Northern Health.
As of Saturday, there are no new outbreaks in long-term care facilities. Currently, there are 21 active outbreaks in long-term facilities and three acute care unit outbreaks in the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Coastal Health and Fraser Health regions. Outbreaks are declared over at 12 care facilities.
The provincial health officer said 120 people with COVID-19 are associated with the ongoing outbreak at the Mission federal correctional institute in the Fraser Valley.
There are 15 positive cases of COVID-19 connected to the Kearl Lake plant in Alberta, "one of the more challenging issues we've had recently," Henry said.
"We are requiring people who have come back from working at that facility to self-isolate whilst they're in B.C.," she said. "This is essential work, and people are going back and forth for work, but as cases continue to be found both in Alberta and here in B.C., this is vitally important for us ... that anyone who has been at this site since March 24 needs to follow our requirements in British Columbia when they are home." She urged those who've visited the facility to monitor themselves and their families for symptoms.
"We cannot afford to have any missteps as we look to ease our restrictions in the coming days and weeks."
Henry announced a new community outbreak at Fraser Valley Specialty Poultry. An ongoing investigation has confirmed three cases.
Meanwhile, a total of 50 people have tested positive in the ongoing community outbreak at Superior Poultry, a chicken processing plant in Coquitlam. In addition, there are 42 positive cases related to the initial outbreak that took place at United Poultry Company Ltd., a Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»processing plant. Investigations remain ongoing at both plants.
There have been two additional deaths in B.C. in the past 24 hours, including one in the Fraser Health Authority and another in the VCH region, for a total of 114 fatalities in the province.
The number of B.C. patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 continues to decline, with 72 people currently receiving acute care.
Henry reported 1,376 people have fully recovered and are no longer in isolation.
She said that the recent outbreaks in various poultry plants around the province are a cautionary tale and that the province won't reopen up until we have the right safety standards in place on an industry level.
That means B.C. won't be opening hair stylists and other industries that require close personal contact in the near future, she added.
During Saturday's midday briefing, Henry took the time to speak directly to B.C.'s youth, who she acknowledged might be having a particularly difficult time with missing their friends and school. For the graduating class of 2020, she had a particularly special note: "This can be so challenging ... the traditional ceremonies and celebrations we would expect to have as you make this major transition from high school into the rest of your lives are on hold right now."
She continued, "We are thinking about that, and teachers, administrators and parents are still working to make this an incredibly memorable experience for all of you. You need to think about this in that you are, and will always be unique in a graduating class. It's been over 100 years since we've had an event like this pandemic - few of us have ever known or will ever experience graduating during the circumstances of a global pandemic, and looking at how we can make this a special and memorable and positive experience in your life."
Henry also reminded younger students and their parents to not strive for perfection while attempting to navigate home-schooling during the pandemic - perfection is "an unattainable concept," she said.
"School is different right now, but learning - whether it's in the classroom, at home or outside, doesn't stop."
Two weeks out from easter, British Columbia has not experienced any spikes on COVID-19 including in small vacation communities resulting from the limited amount of travel that occurred over the past long weekend according to Henry. She also said she is hopeful that people will take similar precautionary measures on the Victoria Day long weekend.
Earlier this week, Henry stated that despite a number of community outbreaks, the decrease in cases is clear evidence that the sustained efforts to follow public health measures have slowed the rate of transmission of COVID-19.
"In addition, our increased surveillance testing has led us to find people in our community who are positive for COVID-19 and the vast majority of them are linked to outbreaks now, which is an important thing for us to understand so that we know where transmission is happening in our community," Henry said.
Henry also noted that the province will provide the latest COVID-19 modeling on Monday, as well as the latest details on the epidemiology regarding who has been affected in B.C.
- with files from Elana Shepert and Alber Van Santvoort
