The Northern Health region saw a spike of new cases of COVID-19 over the weekend, linked to a group of people who attended a prayer gathering in Alberta earlier this month.
B.C. deputy provincial health officer Dr. Réka Gustafson said the total number of cases in the north since the start of the pandemic reached 117 on Monday – up 10 from Friday. On Monday Northern Health issued an alert asking anyone who attended the It Is Time Canada evangelical prayer gathering in Deadwood, Alta. between July 30 and Aug. 2 to self-isolate.
"The Northern Health Authority did report those 10 cases, and yes, they were related to that exposure," Gustafson said. "Absolutely there is a possibility there will be additional exposures related to that."
The event's COVID safety plan, published online, says the event was limited to 100 people on site at one time, social distancing measures were in place, volunteers were taking temperatures and screening people on arrival, and hand sanitizer stations and masks were made available.
Northern Health has linked 17 cases of COVID-19 to people who attended the event – 12 in people who attended themselves, and five believed to be secondary exposures. Ten of those cases were active, as of Monday.
The majority of the cases are in the Fort St. John area, Northern Health's warning stated, but the exposure alert applies to the entire Northeast health service area.
Currently 24 people are in self-isolation, monitoring themselves for symptoms, Northern Health's alert said.
The goal of asking those people to self-isolate is to reduce the number of contacts they have, if they do become sick, Gustafson said.
Provincially, there were 236 new cases of COVID-19 since Friday's update, she said. That included 100 new cases detected on Saturday.
"It's the second-highest (single-day) number we have recorded since the start of the pandemic," Gustafson said.
There are now 740 active cases throughout B.C., she said. However, only four people in the province are hospitalized with the disease – including three in intensive care. Two people died of COVID-19 over the weekend in the Lower Mainland, bringing the province's death toll from the pandemic to 198.
The low number of hospitalizations, despite rising case numbers, indicates that British Columbians are doing a good job at protecting the most vulnerable citizens.
"The majority of infections today are in young adults," she said. "The disease can spread with very mild symptoms, or no symptoms at all. Some people may not realize they have COVID-19."
Because of that, people need to stay home if they have any signs of illness, she said, even the mildest symptoms. And anyone who is showing symptoms linked to COVID-19 can and should get tested, she added.
While young adults are less-likely to get serious symptoms from COVID-19, they can spread it to vulnerable people in their family, at work or their communities, Gustafson said.
"The thing we need to realize is we're all in this together."
Health Minister Adrian Dix said provincial and local authorities have been stepping up enforcement of public health orders on places like bars and banquet halls.
Three nightclubs in the Greater Vancouver area were closed over the weekend, and officials conducted inspections at 128 banquet facilities in the Vancouver area, he said.
"We can't let a few wreck it for everybody else. A lot of our efforts have been to protect the most vulnerable. And yet... and yet, 236 new cases this weekend," Dix said. "One of the major concerns we have is private parties, especially indoor private parties."
Dix urged people to not host and not attend private parties. Find new ways to socialize within your "bubble" he said, because the return to normal is still a long ways off.
"This pandemic is not ending soon," Dix said. "This pandemic we are all so tired of... will continue well into 2021."
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