VANCOUVER -- Newly released information from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control shows some neighbourhoods in the province seeing an ongoing decrease in COVID-19 case rates, while others are continuing to see troubling increases.
The BCCDC Weekly Data Summary – which was only recently made public after a fierce backlash following a document leak – shows cases continue to decline in all health authorities, overall, but some neighbourhoods are actually seeing more cases. Companion information from the BCCDC’s website also shows significant case positivity rates in several pockets.
From May 6 to 12, cases in much of West Vancouver, Horseshoe Bay, Vancouver’s Point Grey and Shaughnessy areas, North Burnaby and Aldergrove all saw increases on a per capita basis, as did the Hope, Lillooet, Lake Country and Peace River North areas.
Of COVID tests performed in the West Newton neighbourhood of Surrey, 23.9 per cent came back positive, as did 20.4 per cent of those in Whalley, the two highest positivity rates in the province. Peace River North saw 19.8 per cent testing positivity, with 17.9 per cent in Peace River South, representing increases from the week before.
On a per-capita basis, West Newton had the highest average daily rate, with 60 cases per 100,000 residents. Whalley had 50 and East Newton had 49. Rural Abbotsford had 39 cases per 100,000, with 37 for West Abbotsford. Roughly one-third of all COVID-19 cases in B.C. are in Surrey, even though only 10 per cent of the population lives there.
The Southern Gulf Islands, Juan de Fuca Coast area, Enderby, Princeton, Kettle Valley and Grand Forks community health service areas registered zero cases that week. In the Lower Mainland, Tsawassen, Dunbar-Kitsilano, urban West Vancouver, eastern North Vancouver, Poco-Belcarra and central Maple Ridge had the lowest test positivity with rates between one and three per cent.
“Of all COVID-19 positive test samples in epi week 18 (May 02 - May 08) in B.C., (roughly) 83 per cent were presumptive (Variants of Concern),” reads the report. “Note that in Northern Health, the proportion was substantially lower, (around) 45 per cent.”
Vaccination Rates
The Local Health Area with the highest vaccination rates among adults 18 and older was the Central Coast at 90 per cent, followed by Haida Gwaii at 78 per cent, Prince Rupert and Revelstoke (75) and Windermere (72). In the Lower Mainland, West Vancouver, Delta and South Surrey-White Rock are tied at 58 per cent of adults vaccinated.
The lowest rates are in Peace River North, where just 27 per cent of adults are vaccinated, followed by Fort Nelson (37) and Fernie (39). In the Lower Mainland, Richmond is only 40 per cent vaccinated, followed by Vancouver City Centre (41), Vancouver Westside (43) and Vancouver Centre North (43).
Situation Report summary
The BC CDC's weekly COVID-19 Situation Report notes that in the week of May 2 to 8 infections continue to fall, but so are testing rates.
There were just 51,000 tests performed that week, down from 67,500 during the first week of April, when the pandemic’s third wave was roaring across the province. Last week, there were 58,000 tests in the province.
"The per-capita testing rates for MSP-only specimens recently decreased in all (health authorities)," note the report's authors.
While the share of people testing positive has decreased since early April, it's still 11.2 per cent in Fraser Health, the highest in the province, followed by 8.7 per cent in Vancouver Coastal Health.
Teens aged 15-19 years old had the highest rate of positive test results, with 11 per cent of everyone swabbed confirmed for COVID.
Northern Health and Island Health are now seeing about a quarter as many cases per capita as they did in early April, while Fraser Health has gone from 220 cases per 100,000 residents to 129. Vancouver Coastal's incidents went from 194 to 58 caes per 100,000, while Interior Health dropped from 86 to 34 per 100,000.
Six more children under the age of 10 were hospitalized during the week in question. Among those aged 10 to 19, five more were hospitalized and one sent to intensive care.
Nineteen per cent of the deaths reported during the week of May 2 to 8 were in people who'd been living in long-term care. It had been as high as 81 per cent of COVID-19 deaths in December.
