In an update on the outbreak in B.C. released Monday, eight more people, including a two-year-old child, died over the three-day weekend from the Chinese communist virus (COVID-19).
Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s chief health officer, made the announcement at Monday’s outbreak briefing, noting that the toddler is currently the youngest person to die from the disease in B.C.
Henry said, “Although this child had prior health problems that were complicated by the infection, it was the virus that caused his death.” The patient was from from Burnaby and had been receiving specialist treatment at BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. Henry added that the toddler’s death is a reminder of “the malignancy of this virus.”
She said, “Our prayers and condolences go out to the family of this child, and to all the families and caregivers whose lives have been impacted by caring for patients and losing loved ones in this epidemic.”
The province has now recorded 1,538 deaths related to COVID-19 since the outbreak began. BC also broke hospitalization records again last weekend, when a record 441 patients battled the disease in hospitals. This included 138 patients in intensive care, another provincial record.
B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix revealed that the province has begun using wave capacity beds to care for the influx of COVID-19 patients into the hospital. While some areas have ample available base capacity, others are nearing their limits, including the Interior Health Region, which is already using 22.5 per cent of available peak-capacity beds.
He said the more crest-capacity beds used, the greater the need to shift resources from other parts of the province’s health system to COVID-19 care. Some scheduled non-emergency surgeries have been postponed in the Lower Mainland to ease the hospital’s worsening outbreak.
“One of the reasons we’ve been able to contain the demand for care so far is that we’ve had almost zero flu this year,” Didion said. With the province’s epidemic curve now edging back down, it is too early to relax the public health orders currently in place in the province.
The government revealed Monday that all current public health orders related to the outbreak will remain in place until after the May long weekend, and a new travel restriction will be implemented Friday that will prohibit people from travelling between health jurisdictions in the province for recreational purposes.
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