The re-opening of the Richmond COVID-19 testing centre near the airport has been pushed back to Monday, Jan. 3 -- and even that date is tentative, said a VCH spokesperson.
Earlier, the health authority had said the centre would open Sunday, Jan. 2.
The winter weather has shut the site down temporarily all the while the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise.
“We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused community members who wish to access testing for COVID-19,” VCH said in a statement to the Richmond News.
VCH added that anyone coming to testing sites will be assessed for the appropriate test and to ensure they're eligible to be tested.
The testing site at the JetSet parking lot just near the entrance to the airport has been closed since Dec. 25.
As the Omicron variant of COVID-19 continues to spread, there were four times as many cases recorded in Richmond as compared to the previous week.
The BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) reported that between Dec. 22 and 29 there were 468 cases detected (this is updated from BCCDC data released earlier this week).
The data shows cases in Richmond, per capita, are up in every neighbourhood, but fairly evenly spread out.
While the number in areas like City Centre, at 131 cases, and the East-West Cambie/Bridgeport area, at 73 cases, are the highest, the discrepancy in the number of cases per 100,000 residents throughout the city isn’t that big, ranging from 23 (Blundell) to 38 (East-West Cambie/Bridgeport). (See below for COVID-19 cases for all neighbourhoods.)
On Thursday, the province reported 4,383 new cases across B.C., the highest one-day number. Hospitalizations, however, are not going up at the same rate – there were 211 people in hospital with COVID-19 of which 66 were in the ICU.
COVID-19 cases from Dec. 22 to 29 (per 100,000 residents in brackets)
City Centre: 131 (31)
East-West Cambie/Bridgeport: 73 (38)
Thompson/Seafair: 72 (29)
Steveston: 59 (31)
Gilmore/Shellmont/East/Hamilton: 54 (33)
Broadmoor: 47 (26)
Blundell: 32 (23)
- with files from Castanet
