Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, who shared testing numbers in her press conference on Thursday, Oct. 1. (Facebook/Gov't of B.C.)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

covid-19 update

COVID cases within Island Health rises by 1 as officials plan for Halloween

Oct 1, 2020 | 3:31 PM

NANAIMO — The number of COVID-19 cases within Island Health rose slightly to start October.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry confirmed one new case of COVID-19 within Island Health on Thursday, Oct. 1.

It’s in southern Vancouver Island, one of three active cases.

There’s currently one active case within central Vancouver Island, which covers the mid-island area, including Port Alberni and the rural west coast.

Island Health has suffered 209 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, the least affected health region in B.C.

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Central Vancouver Island was home to 61 of the total cases.

Across B.C., the number of active cases fell again to 1,261.

Less than one per cent of the nearly 11,000 tests done in B.C. in the last 24 hours were positive.

Dr. Henry said health officials in all health regions are hard at work creating guidance plans for attractions and events during the Halloween season.

This includes pumpkin patches and haunted houses, as well as for Halloween night where thousands of children normally wander the streets and come in close contact with a wide variety of people.

“We’re on the right track and I know we all want to keep going,” Dr. Henry said. “We’re learning to live with this virus to minimize its impact on our community so we can do all the other important things as well.”

There hasn’t been a school exposure event within Island Health since students returned to the classroom.

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