The Howe Sound area, which includes Lions Bay, Britannia Beach, Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton, has had 43 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 between Oct. 10 to 16 (Sunday to Saturday, stats released on Wednesday), according to data from the BC Centre for Disease Control.
No stats have ever been made available for Squamish or other smaller communities, though media and others have been calling for communities to be told their case counts throughout the pandemic. Thus far, the health authorities and the provincial ministry of health, have refused to release this more granular data to the public, saying it is a privacy concern.
This week’s COVID-19 tally is up from 33 cases confirmed between Oct. 3 to 9 and 28 confirmed Sept. 26 to Oct. 2.
For the week Sept. 19 to Sept. 25, there were 37, however.
From January 2020, to September 2021, this region has seen 3,130 confirmed cases.
At its height, Howe Sound saw more than 400 positive cases in the week of March 28, 2021.
As of Oct. 22, Vancouver Coastal Health has listed three Sea to Sky schools with potential COVID-19 exposures.
Brackendale Elementary had potential exposures from Oct. 6 to 8 and Oct. 12.
Squamish Elementary had potential exposures of Oct. 1 and Oct. 4 to 8.
Signal Hill Elementary School in Pemberton had a potential exposure on Oct. 4.
According to Vancouver Coastal Health, when someone at a school receives a positive COVID-19 test, Public Health officials notify the person of their test result, determine who they were in contact with while they were infectious, and follow up with those contacts. If there is an increased risk of ongoing transmission of COVID-19 to groups they were a part of, such as in class, a school exposure notice is posted. The postings go up after the public health has completed its investigations.
In Howe Sound, 88% of eligible folks have gotten their second COVID-19 vaccine, as of Oct. 19, according to BC Centre for Disease Control.
There is a drop-in COVID-19 Vancouver Coastal Health vaccine clinic at Quest University, located at 3200 University Blvd., on Saturday, Oct. 23, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.
