Health officials on Monday reported six new COVID-19 deaths in B.C., all of them linked to long-term care.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said four of the deaths were in the Vancouver Coastal Health region and the other two were in Fraser Health. One of the deaths in Fraser Health occurred in June, and has only now been attributed to the virus.
The province’s COVID-19 death toll has risen to 183.
Henry also announced 31 new cases of COVID-19 over the last 72 hours.
There were nine cases from Friday to Saturday, 15 cases Saturday to Sunday, and seven from Sunday to Monday.
B.C.’s confirmed cases now total 2,978. Of those, 2,629 patients have fully recovered, or about 88 per cent. The province has 166 active cases.
Sixteen COVID-19 patients are in hospital, with four of them in intensive care.
Over the weekend, Providence Health Care reported three new deaths at Holy Family Hospital, the last long-term care home in the Vancouver Coastal Health region with an ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.
Henry again emphasized that it’s important not to overreact at the sight of people travelling in vehicles with U.S or out-of-province licence plates, saying “we may not know everyone’s back story.”
British Columbians should, however, remind visitors that everyone in the province has been asked to keep their social circles small and maintain social distance, she said.
“It is perfectly valid for us to say, ‘This is how we do things here’ in a gentle way, and model that behaviour. ”
Vancouver Coastal Health has notified people who visited the bar and nightclub areas of the Hotel Belmont on Nelson Street about a possible exposure to COVID-19 on the evenings of June 27 and June 29.
Health officials say anyone who went to the hotel on those days should monitor themselves for a two-week period. As long as they remain healthy and don’t develop symptoms, there is no need to self-isolate.
The health authority says there is no risk to anyone who attended the hotel outside of those dates, nor is there an ongoing risk to the community.
— With files from Simon Little, Terry Schintz and The Canadian Press