‘Wave of unvaccinated cases’: B.C. records 402 new COVID-19 infections, highest since May 21

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – B.C.’s top doctor says the province is “facing a wave of (COVID-19) cases in the unvaccinated,” as she reported 402 new infections Wednesday, the highest since May 21.

The number of British Columbians hospitalized with the illness is up slightly from 55 to 58, while the number of patients in the ICU has gone down from 23 to 21. There have been no new deaths in the past day.

Once again, the Interior Health region recorded more than half of the new cases, with 234 infections in the past day. The region with the next-highest number of new cases is Fraser Health with 82. Vancouver Coastal Health recorded 31 cases, Island Health saw 25, and Northern Health reported 20.

Related articles:

• B.C. remains reluctant to introduce COVID-19 vaccine passport

• Kelowna long weekend crowd draws ire of city councillor amid COVID outbreak

• mRNA technology behind COVID-19 vaccines could change how we treat cancer

B.C. has five active outbreaks, all in long-term care facilities. They are at Holyrood Manor, Nelson Jubilee Manor, Kootenay Street Village, Cottonwoods Care Centre, and Brookhaven Care Centre. All but Holyrood Manor are located within the Interior Health Authority.

On Thursday, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry acknowledged concerns around the highly contagious Delta variant, adding there have been cases found in children under the age of 12. While she did not provide any statistics, she maintained there haven’t been “very many.”

“What we are not seeing is increased rates of transmission in young children and children under 12, in particular. We’ve not seen very many cases in that age group,” she said.

COVID-19 vaccines have not been approved for use in children under the age of 12 in B.C.

On Wednesday, Henry told NEWS 1130 despite the rising daily COVID-19 numbers, “we absolutely are on track” to enter stage 4 of B.C.’s reopening plans in early September.

“I’m confident that we’re going to be in a good place here in B.C.,” she said, noting that could change if those who are vaccine hesitant remain that way.

On Wednesday, she also said all ICU patients with COVID-19 in the Interior are unvaccinated.

Related articles:

• Canada’s health minister asks Alberta for science behind plan to lift COVID rules

• Canadian study identifies protein in blood that may be causing COVID-19 deaths

• B.C. ‘absolutely on track’ for stage 4 of reopening plan, says Henry

The province stands at 81.7 per cent of eligible British Columbians having at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 68.4 per cent having two doses.

Health Minister Adrian Dix says 33,277 shots were administered Wednesday, 16,505 of which were at one of more than 50 walk-in clinics that were set up for “Walk-In Wednesday.” Dix called it a “success,” noting 20,000 doses were set aside for the one-day event.

Since December 2020, the province has administered 6,965,062 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines.

More to come