The province announced on Wednesday, around 500 new contact tracing personnel for public health will be hired and begin work in September. (BC Government Flickr)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

BIG JUMP

COVID-19 contact tracing increases for public health, two new Island cases

Aug 12, 2020 | 3:40 PM

NANAIMO — The total number of COVID-19 cases on Vancouver Island has topped 150 as the virus surged in the province.

Two additional confirmed positive tests were announced by the province Wednesday, part of 85 new cases across British Columbia. The numbers included two epi-linked cases in the province, which are not considered active.

There are currently four active cases of COVID-19 in the Island Health region, all of whom are recovering at home.

Across B.C., 531 people are considered actively battling the virus with eight people in hospital, five of whom are in intensive care.

The increase of 85 new cases is the third highest single-day increase since the start of the pandemic.

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A joint statement from provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and health minister Adrian Dix said the majority of new cases are young people in the lower mainland who have been exposed at events in the community.

“The cases we are seeing today reflect exposures from a week to 10 days ago. A significant number of cases are also linked to travel from out of province,” the statement said.

One new death linked to COVID-19 was also confirmed, marking the first fatality from the virus in almost two weeks.

“We need to refocus on measures to flatten the curve of infection and protect British Columbians as we help our province recover,” the statement said.

Earlier on Wednesday, the province announced the hiring of around 500 new contact tracing personnel to aid public health.

Likely to be made up of retired nurses and recent graduates, the new tracers will add to public health’s ability to effectively monitor community transmission of COVID-19.

“Every time we have a positive case of COVID-19, they’re followed up individually to find out exactly who they were with, where they went, the movements we do everyday,” Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer, said.

The province has previously said contact tracing has been a key indicator at how successful social distancing measures have been.

Dr. Henry said at the beginning of the pandemic, connections among people were quite high, a number which dropped quickly as lockdowns took effect.

“Now it’s creeping up again and that is concerning, right now, we are holding our own. We are able to contact 98 per cent of the people who are close contacts of our cases in B.C., we’re not seeing a lot of unlinked cases.”

Meantime the province updated their back to school timetable.

Students will return to in-class learning by Sept. 10 with an orientation day to help adapt to COVID-era schooling.

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