BC’s Minister of Health says there is a possibility that the province will have to take a step backwards if the number of active COVID-19 cases continue to increase.

Active cases in the province have basically tripled since the beginning of the month.

Speaking on NL Newsday, Adrian Dix says there is always that risk that we will need to scale back the reopening of our economy.

“Nothing gets ruled out. We have to assess where we are every single day. But all of that said, we do have as we prepare for the fall, cold and flu season, more respiratory illness out there, we do have the lessons of the spring to learn from, we have to continue to learn,”  he said.

“So I would say July and August have been my busiest months as Heath Minister as we prepare for the fall.”

Dix says it is preparing for the fall by increasing testing and contact tracing capacity and it will have a significant campaign against influenza. He adds nothing gets ruled out and we have to assess where we are every single day, particularly as we look towards cold and flu season.

“A major effort right now across all of public health and all of health to prepare for the unknown which is what will happen in the fall when we’re into respiratory illness season for the first time with COVID-19. We have to be ready and we’re determined to be as ready as we can be.”

The number of active cases in BC has risen from 278 on July 31st to 913 as of August 24.