B.C. COVID-19 update: Hospitalizations drop below 400 as restrictions set to ease

The number of COVID-19-positive patients in B.C. hospitals has dropped below 400 for the first time in more than two months, the provincial Ministry of Health announced Thursday.

The 388 people in hospital are the lowest total the province has seen since Jan. 8, when the reported total stood at 376.

The milestone comes on the same day that health officials announced major changes to the province's remaining COVID-19 restrictions, including an end to the indoor mask mandate at 12:01 a.m. Friday and an April 8 end date for the B.C. Vaccine Card program.

Hospitalization figures include both patients who are admitted to hospital because of serious COVID-19 infections and those who are admitted for other reasons and test positive incidentally. The province does not break down the number of patients in each category on a daily basis, but has previously estimated that about 40 per cent of hospitalizations are incidental.

There are currently 52 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units in B.C.

Thursday's update also included four new deaths attributed to the coronavirus. B.C. has now seen 2,932 deaths since the pandemic began. The ministry said one death has been removed from that total due to "a data correction." It did not elaborate on why the correction was necessary.

Three of the latest deaths happened in the Fraser Health region, while the remaining one happened in Interior Health.

Many of the deaths reported in the province since the pandemic began have been associated with outbreaks of COVID-19 in long-term care and assisted-living facilities.

One new outbreak - at Yucalta Lodge in Campbell River - was announced on Thursday, while two others - at Overlander Residential Care in Kamloops and Gillis House in Merritt - were declared over.

That leaves B.C. with 14 ongoing outbreaks in its health-care system, most of them in long-term care homes.

The ministry does not share the vaccination status of those whose deaths are attributed to COVID-19 on a daily basis. Monthly data on deaths by vaccination status found on the B.C. Centre for Disease Control's COVID-19 Surveillance Dashboard suggests that unvaccinated people continue to be overrepresented in the provincial death toll, relative to their share of the population. 

More than 90 per cent of eligible people ages five and older have received at least a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and 86.6 per cent have received two doses.

Among adults, 58.3 per cent have received a third dose or booster shot.

The ministry also announced 336 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, though that number is not considered representative of the spread of the coronavirus in the province because most otherwise healthy people do not meet B.C.'s criteria for testing.