Dr. Bonnie Henry said that there were 11 new deaths in B.C.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/BC Government

Eleven more British Columbians died of COVID-19 over the last 48 hours, Dr. Bonnie Henry said today in the 50th daily update since the pandemic hit this province.

That brings the B.C. death toll to 69, while the total number of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 is 1,490. Of those who have tested positive, 905 have fully recovered.

Interior Health has 136 cases, 650 are in Vancouver Coastal,  591 in Fraser Health, 87 are in Vancouver Island and 26 are in Northern Health.

In B.C. 137 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 and 58 are in critical care or ICU.

There have been several community outbreaks, one being Bylands Nurseries in West Kelowna. There was one additional case of COVID-19 there, and all involved are continuing on with self-quarantine.

One person in Okanagan Correctional Centre has also tested positive, and no new cases have been reported there despite ongoing testing.

Henry said that there’s a lot of evidence that the plans put in place to deal with the pandemic have largely been working and most people are doing the right things.

“We have been united in keeping the firewall strong,” Henry said.

One example was shown over the long weekend with B.C. Ferries, which reported 80 per cent passenger decline over the weekend, despite an outcry on social media that lineups were long and people were disregarding the rules.

Henry also touched on the online campaign from a group of Vancouverites who want to end the COVID-19 quarantine.

Dan Dicks took to Twitter to share a video that showed over a dozen people meeting outside of a Save-On-Foods. Dicks' post received 1.5 million views, 18,000 likes, 8,500 replies, and 8,200 retweets.

“People are paying attention and they may watch …people’s videos to break the rules out of concern," she said. "The vast majority of people are doing what we need them to do.”

Henry added that people do need to go outside for both their mental and physical health but they need to do it in a way that maintains that distance.

“If you are outside and you have that distance between you, you are being safe,” she said. “I have seen examples of people talking to neighbours from a safe distance. We can’t lose that important connection.”

She added that in some form or another, social distancing will continue for months to come. The aim is to get enough herd immunity that there will be no major outbreaks.

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