The number of new reported COVID-19 cases has ticked up in the Tri-Cities, rising to 101 cases between Jan. 17 and 23 — a nearly 12% jump from the previous week.
The bump in cases for the region — which includes Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Anmore and Belcarra — pushed the per-capita new caseload up between five and 10 cases per 100,000 people last week, according to data from the BC Centre for Disease Control.
That puts the Tri-Cities into the company of Maple Ridge, Mission, Delta Burnaby, West Vancouver and large swaths of East Vancouver on new cases per capita.
Langley, North Vancouver and Richmond, meanwhile, recorded fewer per-capita cases. Surrey and Abbotsford, as well as a region encompassing Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, reported between 15 and 20 cases per 100,000 residents.
The hardest hit areas of the province include large sections of Northern Health, Fernie, the northwest coast of Vancouver Island, Bella Coola and at the Cariboo/Chilcotin. The Sea-to-Sky corridor has also reported a number of new cases, pushing the region above 20 cases per 100,000 people and drawing attention to a rising caseload in Whistler.
LONG-TERM CARE OUTBREAKS CONTINUE
As of Jan. 27, Eagle Ridge Manor in Port Moody had recorded only two cases, one among staff and one among residents. At The Madison Care Centre in Coquitlam, 18 cases have been isolated to date and five residents have died of the virus. And in Port Coquitlam, a six-week outbreak at Nicola Lodge — the facility's second during the pandemic — was declared over late Friday, but not before killing five people and infecting at least 51 residents and staff.
ENTIRE MIDDLE SCHOOL CLASS TOLD TO ISOLATE
In addition to the ongoing outbreaks at long-term care homes in the Tri-Cities, schools across the district also continue to get hit with coronavirus exposures.
Among a number of exposure notifications across Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam, the heaviest set of exposures came at Minnekhada middle school, where the Tri-City News confirmed Friday an entire class was told to isolate following multiple exposure dates.
CASES STABILIZE AMID NEW VARIANT FEARS
While hospitalizations continue their downward trend, new daily cases continue to hover around 500 across B.C.
Fears that a new variant of the virus could lead to a surge in cases prompted the federal government to announce a sweeping new set of measures to stem introduction of the virus through international travel.
All flights operated by Canadian airlines from Canada to Mexico and the Caribbean will be cancelled for three months, and new rules for returning visitors mean travellers will have to spend at least three days in a hotel room at the cost of $2,000 while they wait for a test result.
Here's what all the new travel restrictions could mean for you.
