Yesterday, provincial health officer Bonnie Henry lamented what she called B.C.'s "stubbornly high rates of hospitalization" for those with COVID-19, and that is holding true today.
The province has 441 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, which is three more than yesterday and four short of the near-six-month high of 445 such patients on November 2.
Of the COVID-19 patients now in B.C. hospitals, 129 are in intensive care units (ICUs).
One person, in the Northern Health region, died overnight from the disease that has spawned a global pandemic.
Another 549 new cases were detected in the past day, and 4,483 people are actively batting COVID-19 infections.
Unvaccinated people, Henry said, have been driving new infections, hospitalizations, ICU patients and deaths.
"About 60% of the people who were infected with COVID-19 in the month of October are from that 10% of people who are not yet vaccinated," she said, referring to the province's 90.2% vaccination rate among people older than 12 years and who are eligible to get jabbed.
"The vast majority of hospitalizations – 72% in the month of October – and over 90% of the people who required critical care, are people who are not yet vaccinated. When it comes to the small number, thankfully, of people who have died from COVID-19, about half of those people are not yet vaccinated."
She said older people are most severely affected by the disease, but young people are also getting seriously sick.
"We are seeing unvaccinated young people being hospitalized, sadly, and have seen deaths in young people who are unvaccinated," she said. "Most of the hospitalizations, and the deaths, in people who are fully vaccinated are in those who are older, with underlying conditions, whose immune systems aren't as strong and able to prevent severe illness."
Because vaccines are effective, Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix stressed how important it is to get vaccinated.
Government data, they said, show that, when adjusted for age, people who are unvaccinated are 10 times more likely to get infected, 50 times more likely to wind up in hospital, and 46 times more likely to die from COVID-19.
Across B.C., 90.2% of eligible people older than 12 have had at least one dose of vaccine, with 85.7% of eligible people having had two doses, according to the B.C. government.
Of the 4,179,061 B.C. residents who have received one dose of vaccine since mid-December, 2020, 95.1%, or 3,973,745, are considered fully vaccinated, with two doses. Last week, the government said 90,425 British Columbians had received third doses of vaccine. No update to that number was provided today.
The B.C. government estimated in July that the province's total population is 5,147,712, so Glacier Media's calculation is that 81.2% of B.C.'s total population has had at least one dose of vaccine, and 77.2% of the province's total population has had two doses.
The Northern Health region, which has vaccination rates below the provincial average, is by far the hardest hit region for COVID-19 infections.
Glacier Media broke down the 549 infections detected in the past day, by health region, for each 10,000 residents (with total new cases in brackets), and found:
• 1 in Fraser Health (184);
• 0.6 in Vancouver Coastal Health (78);
• 1.5 in Interior Health (110);
• 3.4 in Northern Health (102); and
• 0.9 in Island Health (73).
There were two new infections among people who normally do not reside in Canada.
The result by health region, for the 4,483 people fighting active infections, for each 10,000 residents (with total new cases in brackets) is:
• 10.6 in Fraser Health (1,903);
• 4.8 in Vancouver Coastal Health (601);
• 9.2 in Interior Health (686);
• 20.9 in Northern Health (627); and
• 7.1 in Island Health (605).
There are 61 active infections among people who normally do not reside in Canada.
One new health-care facility with a COVID-19 outbreak is Bethshan Gardens in Surrey. The outbreak at Surrey's West Shore Laylum has been declared over. This leaves B.C. with COVID-19 outbreaks at 37 health-care facilities or seniors' homes. •
