The COVID-19 numbers B.C.'s Health Minister thinks are most important | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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The COVID-19 numbers B.C.'s Health Minister thinks are most important

B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix
Image Credit: FACEBOOK/Government of B.C.

There’s no shortage of COVID-19 numbers being put out almost daily by Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.

Different people look for different things in those numbers but Health Minister Adrian Dix told the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce today, Aug. 27, one data set is clearly the most important.

“The first thing I look at is outbreaks in long term care,” he said. “Because, if there is a significant outbreak in long term care, it means people will die, possibly.”

Right now there are 12 such outbreaks in the province with eight of them limited to a single person, usually a staff person.

“As long as that doesn’t get worse, then it’s not a significant outbreak,” he said. “You worry if there are any resident cases in long term care.”

He noted that no long term care residents in the Interior Health region have been infected with COVID-19.

Next he looks at how many people are in hospital.

As of yesterday that was 21, far below the April 5 peak of 149. That was far shy of what was feared at that time as thousands of hospital beds were emptied by canceling elective surgeries.

Thirdly, he said he looks for cases in small or remote communities where there can be higher levels of vulnerability.


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