COVID-19 infections in B.C. that are serious enough to require hospitalization rose for the 10th consecutive data update to another multi-month high on September 1.
This comes a day after provincial health officer Bonnie Henry said that she expected the number of COVID-19 cases to keep rising in the weeks ahead but that hospitalizations would be unlikely to rise with the same trajectory.
There are now 199 people in B.C. hospitals battling infections, with 112 of those fighting for their lives in intensive care units (ICUs). There has not been so many people in B.C. hospitals with COVID-19 since June 8.
Two additional people in B.C. have died while infected with COVID-19, raising the province's pandemic death toll to 1,818.
Health officials detected 785 new cases overnight, which is 130 more than yesterday. The number of those actively battling infections fell by 170 to 5,873.
More than 95.2%, or 158,900 of the 166,853 people known to have contracted COVID-19 in B.C., are considered by the province to have recovered because they have gone 10 days after first feeling symptoms, and are therefore not thought to be infectious.
In the past 24 hours, health officials provided a total of 15,403 vaccine jabs, with 6,293 going to unvaccinated people, and 9,110 being to people needing second doses.
Of the 3,915,153 B.C. residents who have received at least one dose of vaccine, more than 90.8%, or 3,556,861, are fully vaccinated.
The B.C. government estimated in February that the province's total population is 5,147,712, so that means that more than 76% of B.C.'s total population has had at least one dose of vaccine, and more than 69% of the province's total population has had two doses.
The government's math holds that 84.5% of the province's eligible population, aged 12 years and older, has been vaccinated at least once, with 76.7% of eligible people being fully vaccinated.
The most recent government data on vaccination status noted that between August 24 and 30, people not fully vaccinated accounted for 80% of cases and 83.4% of hospitalizations.
The 4,783 cases in the week ended August 30 included:
• 3,325 (69.5%) unvaccinated;
• 503 (10.5%) partially vaccinated; and
• 955 (20%) fully vaccinated.
Of the 253 hospitalizations in the two weeks ended August 30, there were:
• 190 not vaccinated (75.1%;
• 21 partially vaccinated (8.3%); and
• 42 fully vaccinated (16.6%).
In the week ended August 30, for each 100,000 unvaccinated people in B.C., there were 215.2 cases. For each 100,000 partially vaccinated people in B.C., there were 134.8 cases. For each 100,000 fully vaccinated people in B.C., there were 29.4 cases.
Government data for the two weeks up until August 30 show that for each 100,000 unvaccinated people, 12.2 were hospitalized with COVID-19. For each 100,000 partially vaccinated people, that figure is 5.1. Finally, for each 100,000 fully vaccinated individuals, 1.3 were hospitalized with COVID-19.
Glacier Media crunched the numbers for how many of the 785 cases identified in the past day were in each of the province's health regions. The result for the number of new infections for each 10,000 residents (with total new cases in brackets) was:
• 1.4 in Fraser Health (246);
• 0.9 in Vancouver Coastal Health (110);
• 3.6 in Interior Health (266);
• 3.1 in Northern Health (94); and
• 0.8 in Island Health (69).
No new cases were in people who normally reside outside B.C.
The result by health region for the number of people fighting active infections for each 10,000 residents (with total new cases in brackets) was:
• 8.4 in Fraser Health (1,504);
• 8.3 in Vancouver Coastal Health (1,042);
• 31 in Interior Health (2,299);
• 16.1 in Northern Health (483); and
• 6.3 in Island Health (538).
There has been one new healthcare facility outbreak at Arbutus Care Centre in Vancouver. The outbreak at KootenayStreet Village in Cranbrook has been declared over. There remain 19 active outbreaks in healthcare settings or seniors' homes.
