The Tri-Cities health delivery area has reported 88 cases of COVID-19 in the last week, maintaining a downward trajectory of cases over the last month.
To date, Fraser North — which in addition to the Tri-Cities includes Burnaby, New Westminster and Maple Ridge — has recorded 1,410 cases since the start of the year.
But according to weekly surveillance reports provided by the BC Centre for Disease Control, cases of COVID-19 over the last two weeks dropped to 160 from 172 in the previous reporting period, a seven per cent drop.
Compare this week’s 88 new cases to early September when 135 new cases were reported, and infection rates have fallen by 35%. That’s despite the isolation of exposures at three separate schools across Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam in recent weeks.
Still, infectious disease experts warn that now is not the time to celebrate as promising trends in COVID-19 infection rates have often failed to carry over into the long-term term trajectory of the virus.
“We shouldn't get too complacent every time cases turn downward for a week,” said Caroline Colijan, a mathematician, epidemiologist and infectious disease modeller at SFU studying the progression of COVID-19.
“It’s going to be a difficult fall and winter.”
