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While BC is holding its own, 'we're not over the hump yet'

Not over hump yet: Dr Henry

Measures put in place across the province last month to slow the transmission of COVID-19 appear to be working, particularly in the Interior, but B.C.'s provincial health officer says we're “not over the hump yet.”

During her daily press conference Thursday, Dr. Bonnie Henry announced no new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Interior Health region. There have been nine new cases in the region in the past week, and of the 130 total positive IH tests, 60 people have fully recovered.

“We are not over the hump yet, and we are going to have a bumpy road for a while,” Dr. Henry said. “We are holding our own, and we are keeping it down, but we all need to continue to do this. Going into this long weekend, it's more important than ever that we keep going, that everything we are doing now, we keep up.”

While virus-related deaths in the Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health regions have increased throughout the week, new confirmed cases of the virus province-wide have held somewhat steady between 25 and 45 each day.

“The numbers of cases, the number of people in hospital, it tells me that people are doing what we've asked them to do,” Dr. Henry said.

There has yet to be any COVID-19 deaths in the Interior Health region, and 10 people in the region are currently hospitalized for the virus. Six of these patients are in critical care.

Dr. Henry said the government may, in the future, consider relaxing some measures that have been put in place in certain areas of the province that have been hit less hard by the virus.

“Right now, we have community transmission in most areas of the province, so it's a bit challenging ... but we are looking at what can we do to try and relax some of the issues or to increase some of the, for example, the healthcare needs and address those in a safe way to different parts of the province,” she said. “And we will be tailoring it as best we can to what's happening in the different areas that we know of.”



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