As of Thursday, April 23rd, confirmed COVID-19 cases in BC have risen to 1,824, increasing by 29 from the day before.
Three new cases have been reported within the Interior Health region, bringing its total to 156.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, Provincial Health Officer, said 1,092 people have recovered from the virus, as 732 active cases remain.
Health authorities said four more deaths have been reported, with one being in the Fraisier Health area and three in the Vancouver Coastal Region, making for a total death toll of 94.
As well, a second outbreak at a food processing plant has been reported, as two employees have tested positive at Coquitlam’s Superior Poultry Plant. Henry said that Fraser Health is performing an investigation into the facility.
On Tuesday of this week, an outbreak was declared at a United Poultry Company plant in Vancouver. The facility has since closed and 29 cases have been confirmed from there as of Thursday.
Dr. Henry said that people in the province and through the world will have to adjust to life with the virus.
“It has become very clear to us that we are going to be living with COVID-19 in our communities for some time. We need to develop our way of managing and living with that,” said Henry. “We have been fortunate in many ways in British Columbia that have not had a dramatic increase. Much of that is due to the way that British Columbians have responded together to keep their distance and do the things we need to do.”
Henry added that the amount of new daily cases has to be at a manageable amount in order to lift restrictions, and it’s a task that involves more testing, adequate care for infected people, and making sure the spread of COVID-19 is limited as much as possible.
“It’s going to be a very careful balance and it is going to be very difficult for us to find that. But we do know that we can do this, we have many essential industries that have continued, and we have put in place guidance to help us manage those industries in a way that protects the people that are working, but also our families and our communities,” said Henry.
According to Dr. Henry, the process of lifting restrictions will be gradual and done with plenty of consideration.
“If we expand our circle, we have to do that thoughtfully, and we have to be aware of who in our circle is more at risk of having severe illness,” said Henry. “It’s all complicated, but we need to think about this for our own family. We need to make those judgements about what’s important and how we can manage the risk for ourselves, our community and our province.”
*** Story by Ryley McCormack ***