Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry delivered her daily update from Victoria on COVID-19 cases in British Columbia (Government of BC Flickr)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

COVID-19 CASES

‘We are going to be living with COVID-19 in our communities for some time:’ one additional case on Vancouver Island

Apr 23, 2020 | 3:21 PM

NANAIMO — The provincial health officer has warned the COVID-19 pandemic is not going away any time soon, despite the count of confirmed positive cases dwindling.

Dr. Bonnie Henry reported 29 new confirmed COVID-19 cases across B.C. on Thursday afternoon, for a total of 1,824 across the province.

One new case was identified in the Island Health region, bringing the regional tally to 111.

Dr. Henry spoke during her daily briefing about curbing the enthusiasm of re-opening the province and returning to a normal way of life.

“We are going to be living with COVID-19 in our communities for some time and we need to develop our way of managing that and living with that,” Dr. Henry said.

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The province reported 1,092 complete recoveries of COVID-19 however said four additional people lost their lives to disease.

Officials continue to look at ways to open up sections of the province under manageable risk.

“We manage that risk going forward by opening up industry, our hospital system but doing it in a way that includes vigilance and careful thinking,” Dr. Henry said. “It doesn’t mean the virus is going away, we have to learn how we live with it without getting ourselves into trouble and getting one of those explosive outbreaks in our province.”

Health minister Adrian Dix confirmed 103 people are being treated in hospital for coronavirus, including five on Vancouver Island. 44 patients are in intensive care.

Dr. Henry also addressed expanding personal social circles with care and attention, especially with children.

She said a playdate for children is possible in the coming weeks, however comes with a risk of exposing older relatives.

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