B.C. passed the 3,000 mark for COVID-19 infections on July 8, as the BC Centre for Disease Control recorded 18 new cases, making the total 3,008.
Given that B.C. has an estimated population of about 5,190,000 people, that translates into one case for every 1,735 residents, or 0.579 people per 1,000 residents. That compares with Washington State's estimated population of 7,615,000 people and 37,491 cases, for about one case of COVID-19 for every 203 people, or 4.92 people per 1,000 residents.
Three people in B.C. have died in the past day from the virus that spawned a global pandemic, making the death toll in the province now 186. Of the 162 people actively fighting off the disease, 17 are in hospital, with three of those in intensive care. The rest are self-isolating at home.
More than 88% of those infected in the province, or 2,660, have recovered.
"While there are no active community outbreaks in B.C., new cases and community exposure events continue to occur in the community," Health Minister Adrian Dix and provincial health officer Bonnie Henry said in a joint statement.
The two acknowledged that there has been a second case of exposure to the virus in a strip club – at the No. 5 Orange bar on Main Street. That is the second instance of exposure at a strip club, following one at Brandi's Exotic Show Lounge on Hornby Street in late June.
Public health teams have issued an alert for anyone who may have been at the No. 5 Orange on July 1.
"If you have been at a location with a community exposure event, monitor yourself for symptoms, limit your contact with others and contact 811 to arrange for testing if any symptoms develop," Dix and Henry said. "Contact tracing to contain the spread of COVID-19 requires all of our involvement to be successful.
The breakdown of all COVID-19 infections by health region is:
• 1,018 in Vancouver Coastal Health;
• 1,589 in Fraser Health;
• 133 in Island Health;
• 203 in Interior Health; and
• 65 in Northern Health.
Two seniors' long-term care facilities have active outbreaks: Holy Family Hospital long-term care facility and Maple Hill long-term care facility. There also remains an outbreak at Mission Memorial Hospital, which spawned the outbreaks at Tabor and at Maple Hill, when infected patients were transferred to those homes from the hospital. The outbreak at the Tabor long-term care home was declared over on July 7.
"Fewer faces, bigger spaces is the safest approach, because we know crowded, closed spaces where people may be in close contact with each other are higher-risk environments for all of us and need to be avoided at this time," said Henry and Dix.
