The number of serious COVID-19 infections in B.C. have been steadily on the decline for more than a month, reaching new multi-month lows on December 9.
The 220 people now hospitalized with COVID-19 in B.C. is the lowest count since September 3, when there were 215 such patients.
Of those, 73 are in intensive care units (ICUs), which is the fewest since August 20, when 59 people had illnesses bad enough to need that care. The number of COVID-19 patients in B.C. ICUs has fallen in eight consecutive data updates from the B.C. government.
While these declines are encouraging, British Columbians keep dying from the disease that spawned the global pandemic. Nine additional people in B.C. passed away from the disease in the past day, for a pandemic death toll of 2,378.
Those nine deaths include:
• three in Fraser Health;
• one in Interior Health;
• two in Northern Health; and
• three in Island Health.
The 341 new infections outpaced new recoveries, pushing the number of people actively fighting COVID-19 up by 41, compared with yesterday, to 2,915. With 13,846 tests conducted, the positive-test rate was 2.46%, which is lower than it has been in many weeks.
The 341 new infections in the past day include:
• 83 in Fraser Health;
• 61 in Vancouver Coastal Health;
• 70 in Interior Health;
• 29 in Northern Health;
• 98 in Island Health.
The official count of 2,915 active infections includes 50 that the government said is part of a "data reconciliation" and are not actually active. The remaining 2,865 include:
• 881 in Fraser Health;
• 538 in Vancouver Coastal Health;
• 576 in Interior Health;
• 262 in Northern Health; and
• 606 in Island Health; and
• two people who normally live outside B.C.
Of the 221,576 people known to have contracted COVID-19 in B.C., 216,185, or nearly 97.6%, are deemed by the province 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.
Unvaccinated people continue to be the ones most spreading the disease.
Between December 1 and December 7, people not fully vaccinated accounted for 57.7% of new cases, and between November 24 and December 7, those individuals accounted for 63.5% of hospitalizations.
This is despite the vast majority of British Columbians being fully vaccinated.
B.C. government data show that 4,281,608 residents have had at least one dose of vaccine, while 4,094,539, or more than 95.6% of those are fully vaccinated with two doses.
Children as young as five years old started to get vaccinated on November 29, and as a result there has been a jump in the number of new people getting their first doses of vaccine. There were 6,998 people who got their first dose of vaccine in B.C. in the past day – the same number as yesterday. Another 3,053 received their second dose.
The B.C. government estimates that 85.9% of eligible British Columbians, older than five years, have had at least one vaccine shot, while 82.1% 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 nearly 83.2% of B.C.'s total population has had at least one dose of vaccine, and almost 79.6% of the province's total population has had two doses.
Booster shots in B.C. have started to be given to immunocompromised people, those older than 70 years who have gone six months after their second dose, as well as to healthcare workers and those who received two AstraZeneca doses of vaccine, and have gone six months since their second dose. Others older than 18 years are expected to be allowed, in stages, to get booster doses in 2022.
So far, 542,409 people in B.C. have received their booster dose, according to today's data. That is 20,145 more than yesterday. Most of the booster doses have so far gone to people older than 70 years old.
There were no new outbreaks at health-care facilities in the past day. That leaves the province with five such outbreaks. •
