B.C. COVID-19 map: Here's where people have been testing positive in recent weeks

A screenshot from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control's COVID-19 Surveillance Dashboard. (BCCDC)

Most people who think they might have COVID-19 in B.C. can't get a publicly funded PCR test, but those who can have tended to be located in the province's north and Interior in recent weeks.

That's one of the insights that can be gleaned from map data available on the B.C. Centre for Disease Control's COVID-19 Surveillance Dashboard. 

From Feb. 4 through 10, the data shows, the Central Okanagan local health area - which includes the City of Kelowna and surrounding communities - had the most lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the province, with more than 600.

The local health area that includes most of the City of Surrey was a close second, with about 550 cases, but it also has more than twice the population of the Central Okanagan.

On a per-capita basis, the Central Okanagan saw 38 cases per 100,000 residents per day during the week in question, while Surrey saw just 15 daily cases per 100,000.

The Prince George local health area - which includes a large swath of the province's north beyond the boundaries of its namesake city - has an even smaller population. It saw roughly 500 new positive tests for COVID-19 from Feb. 4 to 10, but that total translates to 66 per 100,000 residents per day.

As noted, these figures represent only those who are able to get a test under B.C.'s current testing strategy, which offers tests only to those who have symptoms and are at higher risk of complications if they contract COVID-19. That group includes the unvaccinated, the immunocompromised and those in congregate living situations, such as long-term care homes.

Tests are also available for health-care workers who need to confirm whether their symptoms are COVID-19 in order to determine whether they should return to work.

Still, though the data compiled on the BCCDC map doesn't reflect all of the coronavirus transmission seen in B.C. communities, it does fit the pattern of the Omicron wave that health officials have described.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has noted during news conferences that the Omicron variant first took hold in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island, replacing the Delta variant in those regions before it did so in the Interior and Northern health authorities.

As a result, though the BCCDC's weekly situation report indicates the Omicron wave has peaked everywhere in B.C., the timeline of the variant's spread through the province suggests the peak came more recently in the Interior and the north. 

The dashboard data for Feb. 4 through 10 appears to support this conclusion. Looking at all local health areas, not just the previously mentioned ones with the highest total case counts, a clear pattern emerges, with much lower per-capita caseloads in regions on Vancouver Island and in the Lower Mainland.

The highest daily case rate per 100,000 residents in Fraser Health, for example, was in the Chilliwack local health area, where there were 17 cases per 100,000 per day during the week in question.

Only three of the 31 local health areas in Interior Health had a lower case rate during the period, and none of the 15 local health areas in Northern Health did.