B.C. COVID-19 data: Just 76 people in hospital Thursday, lowest total in 2 years

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

The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 in B.C. hit another new low in the latest monthly data update from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

There were 76 people in hospital with COVID-19 as of Thursday, down from 96 when the BCCDC released its last update on July 6.

The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 in 2023, as reported by the BCCDC, is shown. (CTV)

The last time the official count of patients hospitalized with the coronavirus was as low as Thursday's came nearly two years ago, on Aug. 11, 2021.

On that date, the BCCDC reported 72 people in hospital with COVID-19, but the total was trending upward as the Delta variant spread across the province.

The Delta surge would soon send hospitalization totals into the triple digits, where they would remain for the remainder of 2021, all of 2022 and the first six months of this year.

Hospitalization numbers remained high for so long, in part, because the BCCDC changed the way it counted the totals in January 2022. Before then, officials only included hospitalizations in the total that were believed to have been caused by COVID-19.

After January 2022, anyone who tested positive for COVID-19 in a B.C. hospital was included in the total, even if they were admitted to hospital for an unrelated reason and tested positive incidentally.

Health officials estimated that between 40 and 50 per cent of reported hospitalizations after January 2022 were caused by the coronavirus, while the rest were incidental.

The number of patients in B.C. hospitals with COVID-19 since the province switched to a "hospital census" model that includes incidental hospitalizations, is shown. (CTV)

Notably, the two health authorities that make up the vast majority of B.C.'s land area – though only about a fifth of its population – had hardly any COVID-19 patients in their hospitals as of Thursday.

Interior Health reported just two patients, while Northern Health reported none.

The region with the highest hospitalization total is now Island Health, where there were 29 patients hospitalized as of Thursday.

COVID-19 hospitalizations by region in 2023, as reported by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, are shown. (CTV)

Other data reported by the BCCDC Thursday also suggests low and either stable or declining rates of COVID-19 transmission in the province. The full report can be found on the agency's website.