New and active COVID-19 infections in British Columbia soar

Despite a growing number of British Columbians vaccinated against COVID-19, the province is seeing its number of new cases and the number of people actively battling infections begin to rise.

The good news is that serious infections and deaths from the disease have not yet increased significantly, although these measures may increase if the number of cases continues to rise.

It was not immediately clear how many of the 342 people newly infected with COVID-19 overnight in British Columbia had not been vaccinated. Last week, the provincial health worker Bonnie Henry told the media only 3.8% of infections detected in the province between June 15 and July 15 were in people who had been fully vaccinated for more than seven days before noticing symptoms.

She explained that this statistic showed the value of receiving two doses of the vaccine, and she urged all eligible British Columbians to get the vaccine.

The 342 new infections are the highest daily number of new COVID-19 detections since May 27, almost 10 weeks ago. At the time, health officials had identified 378 new cases.

The Interior Health Region continues to be the province’s hotspot for infections, and its proportion of people vaccinated is lower than the provincial average. This region includes the central Okanagan, where the government has implemented a mask mandate for indoor public spaces.

Here is a breakdown of the 342 new COVID-19 infections in British Columbia, by health region:
• 66 to Fraser Health (19.3%);
• 57 in Vancouver Coastal Health (16.7%);
• 171 in Internal Health (50%);
• 13 in Santé du Nord (3.8%);
• 32 at Island Health (9.4%); and
• three people who usually reside outside British Columbia (0.9%).

The daily number of COVID-19 cases has tended to increase in recent weeks, increasing the number of people actively battling the disease.

There are now 1,764 people actively battling the disease in British Columbia, the highest total since June 11, when there were 1,880 of those people.

More than 97.6%, or 147,409, of the 150,973 people known to have contracted COVID-19 in British Columbia are considered by the province to have recovered because they disappeared 10 days after feeling the first symptoms, and therefore are considered non-infectious.

Most of those actively battling the disease have been told to stay home and self-isolate, however, 55 people with COVID-19 are in hospitals across B.C., 23 of whom are sick enough to be in intensive care units (ICU). The last time there were more people in British Columbia hospitals with COVID-19 was July 16. The intensive care units have not been full of COVID-19 patients for more than a month.

The death toll from the pandemic in British Columbia has remained relatively stable lately, with only one death in the past week and no new deaths in the past 24 hours.

Provincial data shows that 3,777,588 British Columbians have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 3,146,669 people have been fully immunized with two doses of the vaccine.

The government estimates that this translates to 81.5% of the eligible population vaccinated at least once and 67.9% of the eligible population vaccinated twice.

The most recent estimate from the Government of British Columbia the total population of the province is 5,147,712This means that approximately 73.4% of the total population of British Columbia received at least one dose of the vaccine and that 61.1% of the total population of the province received two doses.

The province’s pace for new and subsequent vaccinations has slowed, with just 16.7% of those who received at least one dose of the vaccine not being fully vaccinated.

There are three new senior residences that have COVID-19 outbreaks – all of which are in the Interior Health Region:
• Kootenay Street Village in Cranbrook;
• Cottonwoods Health Center in Kelowna; and
• Brookhaven Health Center in West Kelowna.

Two more outbreaks in nursing homes for the aged have been active for weeks. These are Holyrood Manor in Maple Ridge and Nelson Jubilee Manor in Nelson.

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@GlenKorstrom