The province announced 122 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday in a statement, with none in the Island Health region. (BC Government)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

NO INCREASE

School exposure event information published, Island Health sees no COVID increase

Sep 16, 2020 | 3:17 PM

NANAIMO — Island Health held steady in its COVID-19 case counts for a second consecutive day.

The 195 cases confirmed in the health authority on Wednesday, Sept. 16 remained unchanged as 122 new cases were reported elsewhere in British Columbia, including five epi-linked cases.

A statement from the province said 1,614 active cases are now present in British Columbia. There are 11 active cases in the Island Health region, down one from Tuesday.

There are currently 60 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in British Columbia with 23 in intensive care. No COVID-19 cases in the Island Health region are in hospital.

As back to school resumes across B.C., the CDC will begin providing more information on any school outbreaks across the province.

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“The BC CDC website will…link to regional health authorities’ school notification pages, providing the date and type of notification (outbreak, cluster or exposure) for impacted schools,” the statement read.

As of Wednesday afternoon, only information for Fraser Health was available on the BC CDC website. Other health authorities are expected to be added soon.

The province noted a shift was seen in recent days of how community transmission of COVID-19 is occurring.

“Large gatherings have been a steady source of transmission. However, many of the new cases we are seeing in the past weeks are from small gatherings where people see different groups of friends on different days – inadvertently spreading the virus to many people.”

Provincial health order Dr. Bonnie Henry also issued a new health order on Wednesday, relating to the ongoing opioid crisis.

The order allows registered and psychiatric nurses to prescribe safer drugs to people at risk of an overdose.

Previously, only doctors and nurse practitioners could prescribe drugs including substitute medications for opioids as alternatives to street drugs.

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