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Spike in Delta COVID cases as UK variant ID’d in school exposure

Total number of cases in Fraser Health increased by 199 from Feb. 14-20
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This map illustrates the number of active COVID-19 cases in Greater Vancouver from Feb. 14 to Feb. 20, 2021. (BC Centre for Disease Control image)

Delta is seeing a spike in the number of active COVID-19 cases in the community, according to the latest weekly figures released by the BC Centre for Disease Control.

Every Wednesday, the BC CDC releases a map showing the geographic distribution of COVID-19 cases by local health area of residence. The latest weekly map shows Delta had 80 active cases for week of Feb. 14-20, an increase over the previous four weeks (73 for the week ending Feb. 13, 65 for the week ending Feb. 6, 59 for the week ending Jan. 30, and 69 for week ending Jan. 23).

The overall number of cases in the Fraser Health region increased as well, to 1,799 from 1,600 (Feb. 13) and 1,373 (Feb. 6). Ten of the other 12 local health areas in the region also saw increases over the previous week.

From the start of the pandemic through the end of January 2021, there were a total of 2,406 COVID-19 cases in Delta.

LATEST: B.C. reports 10 additional deaths, 395 new COVID-19 cases (Feb. 25, 2021)

Meanwhile, Fraser Health on Wednesday (Feb. 17) declared the outbreak over at Mountain View Manor, a long-term care facility attached to Delta Hospital. The outbreak was declared on Feb. 6 after two staff members tested positive for COVID-19. The outbreak was contained to just those two cases.

There are currently no other outbreaks at Delta long-term care, assisted living or independent living facilities.

As of Thursday morning (Feb. 25), Fraser Health listed exposures at nine Delta schools on its site: Hellings Elementary (Feb. 17, 18 and 19), Burnsview Secondary (Feb. 16, 17 and 18), Cliff Drive Elementary (Feb. 16), Southpointe Academy (Feb. 16 and 17), Seaquam Secondary (Feb. 15, 16, 17 and 18), Cougar Canyon Elementary (Feb. 10, 11, 12 and 17), Delview Secondary (Feb. 11 and 12), Hawthorne Elementary (Feb. 16), and McCloskey Elementary (Feb. 10 and 11).

An earlier exposure at Hellings Elementary on Feb. 4 has since been confirmed as the B.1.1.7 variant (also known as the U.K. variant) of COVID-19. The variant has also been linked to exposures at six schools in Surrey: Woodward Hill Elementary, HP Matthew Elementary, Tamanawis Secondary, James Ardiel Elementary and Surrey Traditional Elementary, as well as the independent Gobind Sarvar School.

READ MORE: U.K variant of coronavirus detected at seven schools in Surrey, Delta (Feb. 22, 2021)

SEE ALSO: COVID variants at 7 B.C. schools as weekend sees 1,428 new infections, 8 deaths (Feb. 22, 2021)

RELATED: B.C. needs to let testing, tracing processes unfold – education minister (Feb. 23, 2021)

On Monday (Feb. 22), provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix announced 28 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 variants of concern in our province, for a total of 101 cases, with two other cases still under investigation. Of the total number of cases, four were active and the remaining 97 had recovered.

This includes 81 B.1.1.7 (UK), 20 B.1.31 (South Africa) and two B.1.525 (Nigeria) variants, the latter of which is under investigation.

— with files from Ashley Wadhwani



editor@northdeltareporter.com

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James Smith

About the Author: James Smith

James Smith is the founding editor of the North Delta Reporter.
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