Rapid rise of COVID-19 cases in Fraser Health could spill into other health regions: experts

“You know there’s extra risks that (the increased cases) give to introducing COVID-19 to schools, to long term care, to workplaces, to farms, to gyms, to spins classes to karaoke,” said Colijn, a public health mathematician who joined Simon Fraser University in 2018 as a Canada 150 research chair from Imperial College in London.

These are the types of setting where COVID-19 is potentially going to cause large outbreaks, observed Colijn.

“No age group is an island. No, school is an island, no long term care facility is an island, we all have links to each other,” she said.

Despite the rising case numbers and hospitalizations, British Columbia is faring better than other nearby jurisdictions.

In B.C. there have been 51 deaths per million population and 282 COVID-19 test-positive cases per 100,00 population.

In Washington State, where there have been 324 deaths per million population and 1,470 test-positive cases per 100,000 population.

In Alberta, there has been 74 deaths per million population, with 632 cases per 100,000 population.

ghoekstra@postmedia.com

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