B.C.'s success at controlling the COVID-19 pandemic in the past month may be seeing some cracks, as new infections jumped overnight to 519 in the past 24 hours – the first new daily case count above 500 since November 13.
What is worse is that the number of new infections was not caused by increased testing, but rather by a higher positive-test rate. That positive-test rate, at 4.25% in the past day, was above 4% for the first time in weeks.
The province has so far seen 44 cases of the Omicron variant, which has caused concern worldwide because it is easily transmissible and experts are unsure if it will be able to elude the protection that vaccines offer.
Of the Omicron cases, 37 were in vaccinated people, while 20 were linked with travel. No one with Omicron has yet had to be hospitalized in B.C.
The spike in new cases also prompted a jump in the number of B.C.'s active cases, to 3,171 – the highest number since November 19.
The active cases include, with daily change in brackets:
• 872 (+22) in Fraser Health;
• 669 (+104) in Vancouver Coastal Health;
• 612 (+83) in Interior Health;
• 213 (-27) in Northern Health;
• 804 (+40) in Island Health; and
• one case in a person who normally lives outside B.C.
COVID-19 hospitalizations rose in the province by six overnight, from a more-than-three-month low yesterday, to 191. Of those 81 people are in intensive care units (ICUs,) which is nine more than yesterday.
Some good news is that no COVID-19 deaths were counted in the past day, leaving the province's pandemic death toll at 2,386.
Of the 223,661 people known to be infected in B.C. with COVID-19 since the province's first case was detected in January, 2020, 218,001, or 97.5%, are considered by the government to have recovered.
The B.C. government usually considers COVID-19 patients to have recovered if they have gone 10 days following first feeling symptoms, as they are therefore deemed to no longer be infectious. Some patients, however, continue to have health problems for months after their recoveries.
B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix today mentioned the steady decline in COVID-19 patients in B.C. hospitals in the past month, but stressed at a press conference that hospital occupancy remains "significant."
B.C. has 11,582 beds in what it calls "acute care," which includes most patients' needs. Those beds are split into what Dix describes as 9,229 "base beds," or beds that existed before the pandemic, and do not need extra staff resources, and 2,353 "surge beds," which were added during the pandemic, need extra staff resources than are normally allotted, and are often thought of as being for emergencies.
Of those 9,229 acute-care beds, 9,335 are filled – five more than a week ago, according to Dix.
B.C. also has 728 ICU beds, including 510 base beds, and 218 surge beds. Of those, 465 beds are now filled, which is 11 fewer than the total Dix gave last week.
Parts of the province, such as the Northern Health region, have had ICUs filled to capacity, prompting some people in those units to be airlifted to Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island.
Dix said today that the number of these transfers has slowed in tandem with less COVID-19 transmission in the region.
Only three people in Northern Health were airlifted to other parts of the province in the past week, for a total of 153, according to Dix. Of those, 118 people were unvaccinated.
Indeed, it is unvaccinated people who are spreading COVID-19 far more than are vaccinated people.
Provincial health officer Bonnie Henry provided other data to underscore that fact.
"If you're a 50-year-old person who is unvaccinated, you're seven times more likely to get infected with COVID-19, 30 times more likely to end up in hospital, and 50 times more likely to end up in ICU than your partner, your friends, your colleagues, who are vaccinated at the same age," Henry said.
The good news in terms of controlling COVID-19's spread is that the vast majority of British Columbians are fully vaccinated.
Much discussion at today's press conference centred around the province's plan to distribute booster, or third doses of vaccine, to those who want it.
Henry said the province was a pioneer in committing to distribute booster doses to everyone older than 18 years, and most British Columbians older than 70 years have already received their booster dose.
The current process is to enable widespread access to booster doses to people after they have gone at least six months from their second shot. Most British Columbians have still not gone six months after their second shots.
B.C. government data show that 4,316,478 residents have had at least one dose of vaccine, while 4,105,425, or 95.1% of those are fully vaccinated with two doses. Another 610,264 British Columbians have had three doses, or booster doses, of vaccine, including 21,394 in the past day.
Victoria estimates that 86.6% of eligible British Columbians, older than five years, have had at least one vaccine shot, while 82.4% of that eligible group is fully vaccinated with two jabs.
The B.C. government last year estimated in that the province's total population is 5,147,712, so Glacier Media's calculation is that 83.8% of B.C.'s total population has had at least one dose of vaccine, and nearly 79.8% of the province's total population has had two doses.
To read more about B.C.'s vaccination campaign, and its plan to distribute booster doses, click here.
There were no new active outbreaks at B.C. health-care facilities. Outbreaks remain at:
• Ponderosa Lodge in Kamloops;
• Ridge Meadows Hospital in Maple Ridge; and
• Laurier Manor in Prince George. •
