331 in hospital with COVID-19, BCCDC says in weekly update

A disposable face mask is seen in this file photo from Island Health. (Island Health/Facebook)

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control says there were 331 people in hospital with COVID-19 in the province as of Thursday.

That's a significant decrease from last week's total, which was revised when CTV News Vancouver pointed out a strange pattern in the data that turned out to be the result of an error in the Vancouver Coastal Health region. 

This graph shows the number of COVID-positive patients in B.C. hospitals on Thursdays since the province began including incidental infections in its total back in January. (CTV)

Assuming this week's total is accurate, it represents the lowest hospitalized population B.C. has seen since late June.

The number of people in hospital reported by the BCCDC each week includes both those who are hospitalized because of serious cases of COVID-19 and those who are hospitalized for other reasons and test positive incidentally.

Since the province switched to this "hospital census" method of counting in January, there have been as many as 985 and as few as 255 people in B.C. hospitals with COVID-19 on a Thursday.

This week's update also included 737 new lab-confirmed cases of the coronavirus. That total reflects only those who were tested using a PCR test, and cases epidemiologically linked to them.

Because the vast majority of B.C. residents with COVID-19 symptoms don't qualify for a PCR test under the province's current testing strategy, the weekly case total has been considered – at best – a partial reflection of transmission in the province throughout 2022.

Last week, researchers from the independent B.C. COVID-19 Modelling Group estimated that official case counts are likely off by roughly 100-fold, meaning the 737 cases reported Thursday likely reflect a total of 73,700 actual new infections in the province during the week of Aug. 14 to 20, or more than 10,500 per day. 

Though still quite large according to the modelling group's estimates, the number of new cases declined in the most recent epidemiological week, compared to the one before it.

Coronavirus concentrations in Metro Vancouver wastewater – which can also be used to track the spread of COVID-19 in the general population – have also been falling.

The BCCDC's weekly situation report indicates that viral loads "generally continue to decrease," though there continues to be "week-to-week variability." 

During the week that ended Aug. 20, four of the five treatment plants in the region had seen their virus concentrations decline for at least two straight weeks. Only the Annacis Island plant had seen a modest increase in viral loads: about 11 per cent compared to the previous week.

These data patterns generally fit with the modelling group's conclusion in its most recent report that the latest wave of COVID-19 infections in B.C. has passed its peak. 

Provincial health officials have expressed concern about a potential large wave of infections in the fall, and have been planning a "fall booster" vaccination program to improve people's protection against the virus beginning in September.

That messaging has come alongside a recommendation against getting an additional booster dose before September, though adults who have gone six months since their first booster have had the option to call to schedule an appointment earlier.

According to the BCCDC, the province administered 25,275 vaccine doses from Aug. 14 to 22, or about 2,800 per day.

Most of those doses – 13,155, or about 52 per cent of the total – were second boosters.