Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced 77 new cases of COVID-19 in B.C. Friday, for a total of 348, and ordered all restaurants to halt dine-in services.
Twenty-two people are now in hospital, said Henry, ten of whom are in the ICU. Six people have recovered from the coronavirus.
There are no new deaths.
One of the new cases is a staff member at the Dufferin Care Centre in Coquitlam, B.C. – the fourth Metro Vancouver care home to have confirmed cases of the coronavirus among either staff or residents.
That centre is now under outbreak protocol.
There are now 200 cases in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 95 in Fraser Health, 30 in Island Health, 19 in Interior Health and four in the Northern Health Region.
Healthcare workers 'critical' to fighting COVID-19
It's been a "tremendous challenge" for the healthcare sector to watch what is happening with the coronavirus around the world the in last few weeks and months, said Henry.
"I know how challenging it is when we are dealing with a new virus, a virus, particularly, for which we have no cure," she said. "And we know that it can cause quite severe illness to people that we love and people that we care for. And it's been a tremendous challenge for our healthcare sector to watch what's happening."
About two dozen healthcare workers in B.C. have also been infected with COVID-19, said Henry, but none have had a severe illness.
She also acknowledged that there has been "a lot of anger and concern" that B.C. won't have the supplies needed to protect healthcare workers.
"I want to say that right now, we've been working on this across the province and across the country," said Henry. "And we are committed to doing everything that we can to make sure that we have what we need to best protect everybody in our healthcare system right now."
Health Minister Adrian Dix echoed her statement, saying no effort would be spared in ensuring healthcare workers have the supplies they need, and bluntly stated the steps that would be taken to ensure this.
"We will track down and punish anyone caught misappropriating – the better word is stealing – the supplies we need for your protection," he said.
B.C.'s critical care beds are now at 68.1 per cent capacity, said Dix, as the healthcare system works to increase supplies of healthcare equipment.
"This preparedness is not what's happened in other jurisdictions. We've learned from what's happened in other jurisdictions," he said.
Dix also spoke directly to healthcare workers, saying they are "working miracles."
"We are grateful, we are enormously grateful for all your efforts," he said. "We are making headway together against this threat, but we are not there yet."
British Columbians must do "everything possible" to support frontline workers and hospitals, said Dix, and the entire healthcare sector.
"They are critical to beating this virus," he said.
"But our healthcare system doesn't operate in a vacuum. It needs support from every part of society in every part of the economy," said Dix, adding that essential services such as childcare and extra accommodation "must continue," as they are also critical to beating the virus and supporting healthcare workers.
Restaurants must go to take-out or delivery only
A number of social distancing measures have been implemented in B.C., including limiting gatherings to less than 50 people and asking people to keep a distance of two metres between one another. Anyone returning from international travel has to self-isolate for 14 days.
On Friday, Henry issued a new order for restaurants.
"It's become clear to me that there are certain settings where (social distancing) is really a challenge," said Henry. "It is becoming obvious as it has to many of the municipalities around here that this is a very challenging thing to do (in restaurants).
"So from today (Friday) on, my order is that restaurants must move to a take-out delivery model only."
These measures will help protect healthcare workers and vulnerable measures of society, said Henry, and are in place to curb the spread of the disease.
"The reasons that we're doing this are so that we can build a firewall. We can prevent transmission of this virus between us, so that we can prevent people who are the most susceptible to having severe illness or dying from this disease from being exposed to it in the first place."
When asked by a reporter, Henry said that a shelter-in-place order, such as has been issued in Italy and California, isn't needed yet.
Other businesses can stay open, said Henry, as long as they can maintain proper social distancing.
Henry reiterated the importance of spending time outside, such as with friends or family in small groups.
"We need to go outside with our close family, in small groups," she said, adding that means no basketball games, or sitting together in large groups on the beach watching the sunset.
"Right now, we need to be in small groups, we need to be with our family, we need to be with our close friends – one or two of us.
"We need to be united in these efforts, and we need to build that firewall and make sure that we keep it as strong as we can, and that there are no gaps," she said.
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