The number of COVID-19 patients in B.C. hospitals fell for the third consecutive day, to 985.
Unfortunately, the number of those with serious enough illnesses to need treatment in intensive care units (ICUs) rose by nine overnight, to 145 – the highest count since Oct. 29, more than three months ago.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said earlier this week that 9,358 of B.C.'s 11,582 acute-care hospital beds (80.8 per cent) are full, while 478 of 728 ICU beds are full (65.6 per cent.) Hospitals were 103.5% full pre-pandemic, Dix has said frequently through the pandemic. Part of the reason hospitals are emptier now is that thousands of surgeries have been postponed.
The government did not break down how many of the 13 people who died in the past day in B.C. while infected with COVID-19 were in hospitals. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry estimated that about 40% of those who have recently been dying from COVID-19 were in seniors' care homes, or retirement communities.
Two new outbreaks at health-care facilities or seniors' homes are at Trinity Care Centre in Penticton, and at Gillis House in Merritt. No existing outbreaks were declared over, so the number of those facilities with outbreaks rose to 56.
So far, 2,656 people are known to have died while infected with the disease in the province, since the first death in March 2020.
Counts for newly discovered cases have lost value as an indicator of how widespread COVID-19 is in B.C. because vaccinated people with mild symptoms have been told to not get tested, and to simply self-isolate.
Regardless, health officials detected 1,518 new infections in the past day, lowering the number of known active cases by 405, to 25,554.
Known active COVID-19 infections in B.C. hit a high of 37,224 on Jan. 18, and have been on the decline.
Unvaccinated people remain more likely to be infected and to suffer serious disease from COVID-19 than those who have had vaccine jabs.
Between Jan. 26 and Feb. 1, people not fully vaccinated accounted for 25.2 per cent of cases, according to new government data. Between Jan. 19 and Feb. 1, those individuals accounted for 31.1 per cent of hospitalizations.
Provincial data show 4,485,371 B.C. residents have had at least one dose of vaccine, while 4,195,459 are considered fully vaccinated with two doses.
There were 25,208 people given booster, or third, doses of vaccine in the past day, for a total of 2,204,107. The daily number of new third doses is down significantly from the record 59,329 third doses provided on Jan. 13.
The B.C. government last year estimated that the province's total population is 5,147,712. Hence, Glacier Media's calculation is that 87.1 per cent of B.C.'s total population has had at least one dose of vaccine, and 81.5 per cent of the province's total population has had two doses. Nearly 42.8 per cent have had their booster doses. •
