B.C.'s number of COVID-19 hospitalizations fell below 500 today, for the first time since Jan. 11, when the B.C. government had a more restrictive way of counting those with the disease in hospitals.
Of the 484 COVID-19 patients in B.C. hospitals, 69 are in intensive care units (ICUs) – the fewest so far in 2022.
Sadly, eight more people with COVID-19 have passed away, while one previously announced COVID-19 death was reclassified. That raises the province's pandemic death toll to 2,896, according to B.C. government statistics.
No new outbreaks at health-care facilities or seniors' homes were discovered in the past day, while the outbreak at PolsonLong Term Care in Vernon has been declared over. That leaves B.C. with 20 such outbreaks.
Government data shows that 19.2 per cent of those infected in B.C. between Feb. 24 and March 2 had not received at least two doses of vaccine, and that 33.1% of those hospitalized in B.C. between Feb. 17 and March 2 were not fully vaccinated.
People who do not yet have two doses of vaccine represent slightly more than 13.9% of B.C.'s total population.
The more detailed data for vaccinations is that 4,518,800 eligible B.C. residents have had at least one dose of vaccine, while 4,305,507 are considered fully vaccinated with two doses, and 2,594,873 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 more than 90.3 per cent of B.C.'s total population has had at least one dose of vaccine, and almost 86.1 per cent of the province's total population has had two doses. Nearly 51.9 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 340 new cases – the lowest total for a day that was not on the weekend or on a Monday since early December. Data for how many tests were conducted were not immediately available.
There are thought to have been at least 349,944 British Columbians who have contracted COVID-19 since the first case was detected in late January 2020. •
