VANCOUVER -- New data from the Vancouver Infectious Diseases Centre suggests up to half the population of the Downtown Eastside may have been exposed to COVID-19.

The organization’s president and medical director, Dr. Brian Conway, said his team has been doing antibody testing on small groups in the area every week as a way to track how many people may have contracted the disease.

“Through summer into fall we were picking up 10 per cent of the population sampled having antibodies, that would mean 1 in 10 of these residents of the Downtown Eastside,” Conway told CTV News. “More recently, in early December, as many as 40-50 per cent are now showing antibodies so the disease has a big footprint in the inner city.”

The sample size is relatively small, around 90 people for December across three testing sessions. Conway said of those 90 people, between 40 and 45 tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies.

But the results could indicate a much larger spread than is being reported. Conway said it’s likely many cases go undetected because the individuals “never presented for health-care, they were never offered testing, they didn’t require hospitalization, or a combination of all those things.”

According to the latest figures from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, there have been 953 cases so far in the small health region that includes the Downtown Eastside, Gastown, Strathcona and Grandview-Woodland. The BCCDC’s graphic also indicates more than one per cent of the population has tested positive.

Conway said this proves the need for vaccine rollout in the DTES. High-risk individuals living in shelters are listed in the first priority groups set to receive a vaccine in February and March.

That’s welcome news for organizations like the Union Gospel Mission. Spokesperson Jeremy Hunka said there’s been even more demand on services this year. From May to November, there’s been a 78 per cent increase in the number of people they’ve had to turn away from the shelter, compared to 2019. In December, they also converted a classroom to create more shelter space.

“We’re very happy that our community is among one of the first priority groups,” Hunka said, adding there’s been no direct information yet about what the rollout will look like.

“We don’t know what, when, how, where. We don’t have that information, but we trust that the health authority is working on that as a game plan.”