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B.C. residents maintaining contact rates at about 65 per cent says Dr. Henry while announcing 13 new COVID-19 cases

Victor Kaisar
Jun 23, 2020 | 3:37 PM


B.C. residents maintaining contact rates at about 65 per cent says Dr. Henry while announcing 13 new COVID-19 cases

B.C.’s top doctor says its possible there will be an increase in COVID-19 cases over the summer after the province moves to Phase 3 of its restart plan.

Dr. Bonnie Henry says models suggest that contact rates among British Columbians since mid-May is roughly 65 per cent of the normal, which is what health officials were aiming for with the gradual easing restrictions.

“We are in a fine balance and we have to maintain that fine balance. We’re in a very strange place right now,” she said.

“We’re in the philosophical side of this pandemic, where we need to do the right thing so that we don’t have to go backwards in anyway, and we’ve seen what can happen when you don’t do that in the United States.”

Henry made those comments as she announced 13 new COVID-19 cases and one new death in the province. One of those cases was in the Interior Health Authority, which now has had 199 cases reported. A total of 170 people have died, while B.C. total case count is now 2,835.

“The models show that we are increasing our contacts and we are doing it in a safe way,” Henry said. “We are doing it where we are not seeing increased numbers of cases and people in hospital and people in ICU.”

“As we’ve relaxed distancing measures, strong contact tracing has provided a buffer in B.C. and that is our focus to continue to have that buffer against renewed growth of cases. We have those foundational pieces in B.C. that we are all doing and its making a difference.”

New data showed one new case reported in the Thompson-Cariboo-Shuswap between June 8 and June 21, with a large number of new cases this month coming in the Fraser Health areas and in Vancouver.

Henry says mobility data shows people are spending less time at home, which is to be expected as COVID-19 restrictions are gradually eased. And she says it is important to maintain safe contacts with people even as people begin to move around more often.

“Trust is an important part of our B.C. COVID-19 journey,” said Health Minister Adrian Dix. “We will continue to need to make a difference.”