Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced 146 new cases of COVID-19 in British Columbia.

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

LONG WEEKEND REPORT

Social gatherings, travel pin-pointed as common factors among COVID-19 cases, two new on Vancouver Island

Aug 4, 2020 | 3:29 PM

NANAIMO — The BC Day long weekend provided a predictably sizeable jump in the number of active cases of the novel coronavirus.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry confirmed 146 confirmed new COVID-19 cases across B.C., including four which are considered epidemiologically linked and no longer active.

Two of the new cases are in the Island Health region and the BC Centre for Disease Control said four cases are currently active on the Island.

As of Tuesday, the Island Health region has had 146 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

A jump in case counts was not surprising as health officials had expected to see increased numbers with restrictions loosened and the weather warming.

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“We knew events that had happened in the past couple of weeks would lead to more people who had been exposed developing illness,” Dr. Henry said. “We are now seeing people who were exposed up to two weeks ago.”

Social gatherings continue to be the main source of infection as health officials contact trace newly confirmed patients.

Canada Day parties in the Okanagan are the suspected cause behind a spike in active cases during July, with people travelling to the Interior then returning home while unknowingly carrying the virus.

“Most of our cases, the vast majority of them, we are able to find out where you’ve been exposed and we know that many of those are overlapping social circles where private parties over the period of the last few weeks have led to people passing it to their friends and family,” Dr. Henry said.

Travel and exposure in the workplace is also a common factors among those who test positive.

A total of 319 active cases remain in British Columbia with eight people hospitalized including four intensive care.

No new deaths were recorded due to COVID-19 over the four reporting periods covered on Tuesday.

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