The number of COVID-19 patients in B.C. hospitals has fallen in the 17th straight data update – every one since Feb. 7 – to 511.
This is the lowest total since the B.C. government broadened the way that it counts these patients to include people who have gone longer than 10 days after first feeling symptoms, and are therefore not deemed infectious. The new counts also include people who contracted COVID-19 in hospital while there for another reason, and people who are in hospital who normally reside outside the province.
The total of 511 COVID-19 hospital patients is six fewer than yesterday, and it includes 79 people who are in intensive care units (ICUs) – six more than yesterday.
Sadly, 13 more people with COVID-19 have passed away, raising the province's pandemic death toll to 2,896.
One new outbreak in the past day is at a health-care facility: the seniors' living facility Parkwood Court in Victoria.
The outbreak at Rest Haven Lodge in Sidney has been declared over, leaving 21 active outbreaks at health-care facilities or seniors' homes.
Government data shows that 19.6 per cent of those infected in B.C. between Feb. 23 and March 1 had not received at least two doses of vaccine, and that 34.4% of those hospitalized in B.C. between Feb. 16 and March 1 were not fully vaccinated.
People who do not yet have two doses of vaccine represent about 14% of B.C.'s total population.
The more detailed data for vaccinations is that 4,517,958 eligible B.C. residents have had at least one dose of vaccine, while 4,303,614 are considered fully vaccinated with two doses, and 2,590,923 have had three doses.
Recent Statistics Canada data said that in the 2021 census, B.C.'s population had increased 7.6 per cent between 2016 and 2021, and that the new total number of residents was 5,000,879.
Glacier Media's calculation therefore is that just over 90.3 per cent of B.C.'s total population has had at least one dose of vaccine, and 86 per cent of the province's total population has had two doses. More than 51.8 per cent have had their booster doses.
Health officials have been telling vaccinated people with mild symptoms to self-isolate and not get tested in order to reserve testing capacity for those who have more serious cases or who are clinically vulnerable. As a result, Henry has called case count data "not accurate," and the province has stopped reporting data for how many people in B.C. they believe are actively infected, and how many are thought to have recovered.
The province still reports the number of presumed new cases, and in the past day officials have confirmed 391 new cases. With 7,074 tests in the past 24 hours, the positive-test rate was 5.52% – far less than the 17.35% rate one month ago, on February 3.
There are thought to have been at least 349,604 British Columbians who have contracted COVID-19 since the first case was detected in late January 2020. •
