B.C. COVID-19 update: 10 more deaths reported

B.C.'s Ministry of Health says 10 more COVID-19-related deaths have been reported in the province over the last 24 hours, and hospitalizations have continued to fall.

There were 517 test-positive patients in hospital with COVID-19 as of Wednesday, a total that includes both those with serious illness caused by the coronavirus and those who were admitted to hospital for other reasons and tested positive incidentally.

The number of patients in intensive care units as of Wednesday was 73. That's the lowest the ICU total has been in 2022 so far. The last time there were fewer than 73 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units in B.C. was Dec. 30.

Four of the 10 deaths announced Wednesday happened in Vancouver Coastal Health, while Fraser Health, Interior Health and Northern Health saw two deaths each, according to the ministry.

Since the pandemic began, 2,883 deaths have been attributed to COVID-19 in B.C.

Most of those deaths have been among people ages 70 and older, and many of them have been associated with outbreaks in long-term care and assisted-living facilities.

On Wednesday, the ministry announced five more outbreaks in the province's health-care system, but it also announced the end of 11 such outbreaks.

The new outbreaks were declared at:

• Mission Memorial Hospital in Fraser Health
• Gillis House in Interior Health
• Berwick House Gordon Head, The Heights at Mt. View and Greenwoods in Island Health

The ended outbreaks were at:

• Burnaby Hospital, Langley Memorial Hospital and Good Samaritan Delta View Care Centre in Fraser Health
• Glenmore Lodge and Castleview Care Centre in Interior Health
• Eden Gardens, Kiwanis Village Lodge, Glacier View Lodge, Sidney All Care, Wexford Creek and Salvation Army Sunset Lodge in Island Health

There are currently 21 active outbreaks of COVID-19 in health-care settings in B.C., according to the Ministry of Health. 

Wednesday's update also included 442 new lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19, though daily case counts have not been considered a reliable indicator of the spread of the coronavirus in B.C. since the province began excluding most people with symptoms from its COVID-19 testing criteria.

Unvaccinated people continue to test positive for COVID-19 and to suffer severe outcomes from the disease - such as hospitalization, ICU admission and death - at higher rates than vaccinated ones.

Between Feb. 22 and 28, unvaccinated people who were tested for COVID-19 in B.C. tested positive at a rate of 118.6 per 100,000, while people with two or more shots of vaccine tested positive at a rate of 54 per 100,000, according to the ministry.

Similarly, from Feb. 15 to 28, unvaccinated people were hospitalized at a rate of 36.9 per 100,000, compared to 6.5 hospitalizations per 100,000 among vaccinated people.

Data on ICU admissions and deaths by vaccination status can be found on the B.C. Centre for Disease Control's COVID-19 Surveillance Dashboard. 

That data tells a similar story, with unvaccinated people admitted to critical care at a rate of 38.7 per 100,000 over the last month, compared to rates of 11.6 per 100,000 among those with two shots and 3.6 per 100,000 among those who have had a booster dose.

The death rate among the unvaccinated between Jan. 29 and Feb. 25 was 17.7 deaths per 100,000 people, compared to 7.6 per 100,000 among those with two shots and 2.9 per 100,000 among those with three.

All of these per-capita figures have been adjusted for age differences between the vaccinated and unvaccinated populations.

As of Wednesday, 90.6 per cent of eligible people ages five and older in B.C. had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 86.3 per cent had received two doses.

Among adults, 57.8 per cent have received a third dose, also known as a booster shot.