B.C. COVID-19 data: 174 in hospital in latest update

A sign at the BC Centre for Disease Control is seen in this photo from the BCCDC website.

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in B.C. fell again this week.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control reported 174 people in hospital with the disease across the province Thursday, down from 197 at this time last week. It's the fourth-lowest total the BCCDC has reported all year.

The number of people reported in hospital by the B.C. Centre for disease Control in 2023 is shown. (CTV)

In its weekly summary of respiratory illness in the province, the BCCDC wrote that "COVID-19 test positivity, cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to decrease," while Influenza A and RSV activity are each on the rise.

The published data for COVID-19 doesn't actually show a decrease relative to the most recent report, however.

The number of lab-confirmed cases in this week's report – for the period of Nov. 19 to 25 – was 370, up slightly from the 363 reported last week.

Likewise, test positivity actually ticked up slightly, from 11.7 per cent between Nov. 12 and 18, as reported last week, to 12 per cent between Nov. 19 and 25, according to BCCDC data.

Both of those figures are considerably lower than the levels seen in early October, and a different heading in the BCCDC's report refers to COVID-19 activity decreasing since that recent peak, which is true.

Hospitalizations and deaths reported Thursday are lower than reported last week, but those totals are typically incomplete when first published and revised upwards in subsequent reports.

The 126 new hospital admissions (a separate figure from the number currently in hospital) reported Thursday for the period of Nov. 19 to 25, for example, is lower than the 132 reported for the preceding period. That could change by next week's update, however, depending on how much the latest figure is adjusted.

The modest increases in test positivity and lab-confirmed cases are matched, to some extent, by increases in coronavirus concentrations in wastewater.

The BCCDC's summary of wastewater trends for the week describes "variable increases" at the treatment plants in Fraser Health and Interior Health, as well as in Prince George. Treatment plants in Vancouver Coastal Health show stable virus concentrations, and most of the recent data from Island Health is excluded from the BCCDC's analysis.