Fraser Health to post some COVID-19 exposure locations online

In the wake of surging COVID-19 cases in our province, several health authorities are releasing more information on the exposures in their regions.

On Thursday, Fraser Health joined Vancouver Coastal Health, Interior Health, Island Health in posting public warnings on its website that will include dates, times, and locations of possible exposures.

“This web page is an important tool and it will help link our public health team with people who have been potentially exposed to COVID-19 who we are unable to follow up individually,” said Fraser Health president and CEO Dr. Victoria Lee.

Currently, there are no warnings on the website, despite several restaurants in the region confirming cases in recent days.

Earls Restaurants told Global News this week that three employees at its Port Coquitlam location tested positive for the illness and are self-isolating at home.

Browns Socialhouse at Newport Village in Port Moody posted a statement on its Facebook page, confirming one case among staff on July 20.

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Fraser Health said it’s a matter of balancing privacy and informing the public.

“Those two instances are not on our website, and the reason for that is from the Fraser Health perspective, we were able to identify the cases and their contacts and do that follow up directly,” Lee said.

“We’re not concerned there were additional contacts in those locations that we needed to find through the website. The restaurants themselves have been quite public about what happened and posted on their own websites. There was no reason for Fraser Health to do that.”

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Under rules issued by provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, restaurants are required to sit no more than six people per table.

Also on Thursday, Henry said the spike in cases is a wake-up call.

“We are tweaking the guidelines that we have — the orders around restaurants and pubs and those events where we know that these are risky situations to try and ensure that we can keep things open and allow people to have those opportunities to get together and socialize,” she said.