The Tri-Cities registered 177 new cases of COVID-19 in the second week of December, a slight uptick from the previous week, according to new data released by the BC Centre for Disease Control.
On a per-capita basis, the Tri-Cities reported five to 10 cases per day during the previous surveillance period, a rate roughly equal to North Vancouver Richmond, Maple Ridge and Langley, but lower than Burnaby, Delta, Abbotsford and Surrey — the latter registering 1,484 cases between Dec. 6 and Dec. 12.
This is only the second time the BCCDC has provided weekly data broken down by local health region. The Tri-Cities recorded 168 cases from Nov. 29 to Dec. 5, raising the two-week total to 345 cases.
And while it’s difficult to understand currenthttps://www.tricitynews.com/coronavirus-covid-19-local-news/covid-19-cases-doubled-in-the-tri-cities-last-month-3177877 transmission rates with two data points, if the current trajectory holds, it will land the Tri-Cities somewhere close to the 740 cases reported in the Tri-Cities in November.
Considering November’s totals were double that of October, the latest data suggests the exponential growth seen in recent months is beginning to level off, despite the small uptick in the lead up to Christmas.
Despite the move to more transparency, requests for more specific data were denied Thursday when the B.C. Privacy Commissioner ruled the government was not required to provide COVID-19 cases data to three First Nations seeking to protect their members’ health.
EDITOR'S NOTE: We've updated this story to include per-capita case data to more accurately compare the rates of transmission across different municipalities.
