Cases of COVID-19 are on the rise in Fraser Health with the majority linked to known exposure – BC News

Photo: Canadian Press

Canadian Press / NIAID-RML via AP

New cases of COVID-19 in Fraser Health continue to increase the number of cases in British Columbia, with the Health Authority recording 205 of the 335 cases detected nationwide on Wednesday.

Dr Elizabeth Brodkin, chief medical health officer at Fraser Health, says 75 to 80 percent of new cases are related to a known exposure, leaving about 20 percent of infections to an unknown source.

She says the main places where the disease is most common are private homes, including social gatherings and celebrations where safety measures are difficult to maintain, while transmission also occurs at work sites.

Brodkin said at a press conference on Wednesday that schedules for contact tracing depend on the individual case and circumstances, but public health workers at Fraser Health generally stick to their schedules for follow-up with people who have been exposed to COVID-19.

The British Columbia government recorded another death linked to the disease, bringing the province’s death toll to 273.

Health Minister Adrian Dix and Regional Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said in a joint statement that the new Corona virus does not recognize regional borders.

“A small group in one area can quickly turn into an outbreak in another,” the statement says. “This is why there are county-level orders throughout British Columbia and why we all need to use our layers of protection all the time.”

Fraser Health has recorded 9,439 of 16,135 confirmed cases in British Columbia since the start of the pandemic. Vancouver Coastal Health has recorded the second-highest number of cases among provincial health authorities with 5,097 infections.

There are 3,120 active infections in British Columbia as of Wednesday.

This report was first published by The Canadian Press on November 4, 2020.