By Roy L Hales
According to a November 9th report from Island Health, there are now 8 active COVID cases in that part of Vancouver Island stretching north from Courtenay and the Comox Valley. While the number is trivial, most of us probably haven’t even seen one of those eight people, the trajectory is not. It wasn’t so long ago that the reports were of one to three new cases in a week.
The three Health Authorities with Island Health (North, Central and South Vancouver Island) – courtesy the BC Government
Courtesy Island Health as of Nov 9, 2020
Data for the Campbell River Health Area
The BC Centre Disease Control releases statistics for the Campbell River Health Area on a monthly basis. The most current report displays data to the end of September, at which point there were not any new cases since July. We know that at least two people in Campbell River, itself, caught the virus since then. The statistics up until the end of October should be released this week.
Vancouver Island
There is no cause for panic. There are currently only 39 confirmed active cases of COVID on Vancouver island and none of them are in the hospital or ICU.
Adapted form the British Columbia COVID 19 Dashboard
Second wave more than three times worse
However: the number of active cases province wide has grown to 4,891. According to the British Columbia COVID situation report, the first wave peaked in mid March, at which point there were 9 cases for every 100,000 people in the province. As of the end of October, the percentage of infected people has more than tripled.