COVID-19 update: B.C. hospitalizations surge over the weekend

Nurses close the curtains of a patients room in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit at Surrey Memorial Hospital in Surrey, B.C., Friday, June 4, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

The number of COVID-19-positive patients in B.C. hospitals surged over the weekend, as the province recorded another six coronavirus-related deaths.

There are now 288 test-positive patients hospitalized across the province, according to Monday's update from the Ministry of Health. That's up from 260 patients on Friday.

The hospitalization total, which includes incidental cases along with the people suffering from severe COVID-19 symptoms, increased twice last week, on Wednesday and Friday. Prior to that, the count had been declining daily for more than six weeks.

So far, there has not been a corresponding increase in the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care. That total decreased slightly over the weekend, going from 50 down to 48.

The latest coronavirus deaths were spread across the southwestern corner of the province, according to the ministry, with two each recorded in the Vancouver Coastal Health, Fraser Health and Island Health regions. B.C.'s death toll now stands at 2,989.

There are signs that COVID-19 transmission is beginning to increase as well. There were 556 new cases confirmed over the weekend, which pushed the province's seven-day average up to 225 per day. One week ago, the average was 202.

Only cases confirmed through PCR testing, and those that are epidemiologically linked, are included in B.C.'s daily updates, and the government does not offer those tests to most people who are symptomatic.

Some other jurisdictions have seen new surges in transmission fuelled by the Omicron subvariant BA.2, but it's unclear whether B.C. could be headed in the same direction – or if that could impact plans to lift vaccine passport requirements early next month.

Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam has said that even if cases do rise substantially in Canada, the country's high vaccination rate should keep hospitalizations at manageable levels.

As of Monday, 90.8 per cent of eligible B.C. residents have received at least one dose of vaccine, and 87.3 per cent have received two. Just over 59 per cent of eligible adults have also had a third shot.

No new COVID-19 outbreaks were declared in health-care facilities over the weekend, and the one at Hillside Village, a long-term care home in Salmon Arm, has ended. That leaves six active outbreaks across the health-care system, most in long-term care homes on Vancouver Island.

But changes to the province's criteria for declaring outbreaks have raised questions about the actual extent of the problem. CTV News reported last week that dozens of employees and residents at Haro Park, a care home in Vancouver, have tested positive in recent weeks, but that the local health authority has yet to declare an outbreak at the facility.