Weekly Chart Update
The numbers are in for the 7 day period of October 20-26 and they are not good. During the previous week, BC’s record for the most reported cases in a single day was broken 3 times, with our current record sitting at 317 (October 24th’s number). Additionally, the record has now been broken 6 times during October so far. For comparison, the record has been set a total of 20 times in BC since the first case was confirmed on January 28th. This is a concerning trend.
As you can see from the above chart, our week-to-week growth rate is currently in a spike. At nearly 60% growth from the previous week, we’re seeing a new case increase 3-8x higher than our usual growth rates since mid-August. This is not the largest growth spike we’ve seen, but it is substantial and concerning none the less.
Test Positive Rate
The average test-positive rate in BC has been generally holding steady between 2% and 3% since around April, but due to recent regional increases is now approaching 4%.
Chart courtesy of BC COVID-19 Dashboard
As you can see from the breakdown chart above, the Fraser Health Authority has been seeing consistent spikes well above average for the province. While the others are usually around 1-3%, Fraser Health is now averaging a test-positive percentage of around 5-6%.
Active Cases
BC now has a total of 2,325 active COVID-19 cases across the province, which is a new record for the province. There are currently 77 people hospitalized due to COVID-19, and 26 of those people are currently in intensive care.
As you can see from the above breakdown, the majority of active cases are located within the Fraser Health Authority region. This information relates to the test-positive rate spikes mentioned previously.
New Public Health Order
In her live-stream today, Dr. Bonnie Henry announced a new public health order, limiting gatherings within private homes to no more than your immediate household, plus six others. This is a province-wide order and it applies to all homes regardless of any occasion (Halloween, Remembrance Day, Christmas, etc).
Dr. Bonnie Henry also said that it is now the province’s expectation that people will wear masks in all indoor public spaces. She also requested for businesses to review their COVID-19 safety plans with this in mind. She stopped short of making it a health order, but this statement comes on the heels of the Vancouver city council voting against requiring masks in their civic buildings just 4 days ago.
Eli Lilly Ends Clinical Trial
Eli Lilly has ended one of their clinical trials being conducted on their Bamlanivimab product, a monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19. This particular study, known as ACTIV-3, dealt exclusively with hospitalized serious cases of COVID-19 and was cancelled after it was determined there were no significant improvements in the test subjects (there were also no safety issues discovered).
Eli Lilly remains confident that the product could still have a use for recently diagnosed mild to moderate COVID-19 patients, or as a preventative measure before infection. They have 3 other studies currently in the trial phase, which include ACTIV-2, BLAZE-1 and BLAZE-2.
2 Schools Temporarily Shut Down
BC has now seen 2 schools need to be temporarily shut down for 14 days due to the number of staff either testing positive for COVID-19 or needing to isolate due to possible exposure to COVID-19. The first school is École de l’Anse-au-sable located in Kelowna, which was also the first school to suffer from a COVID-19 outbreak event (as opposed to an exposure event).
The other school currently on a temporary shutdown is Mount Cheam Christian School located in Chilliwack. MCCS has already been closed for a week and is scheduled to re-open on November 2nd.
That’s all for now, stay safe everyone!
BC COVID-19 Info 