Saturday July 10, 2021 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc., Editor | Island Social Trends
The data, plans and strategies about handling the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia have been continually changing over the past 18 months, as the provincial government and public health leadership has done its best to adapt in real time.
For a long while in 2020 the COVID media briefings by Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix were daily, then bi-weekly, now as of July 2021 just as needed. The COVID information format to media has recently changed, and may not be as helpful as readers might hope.
BC CDC dashboard:
Detailed data is posted daily on the BCCDC dashboard: http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/data or: www.bccdc.ca.
The dashboard presently shows 5,565,983 doses of COVID vaccine having been administered in BC (at July 9, 2021) which is 79.1% of all adults in BC and 78.6% of all persons age 12+ in BC. Children ages newborn to 11 years are not yet eligible for the vaccines that are approved in Canada.
Island Social Trends COVID archive:
Click here to see the Island Social Trends archive of COVID pandemic articles going right back to the beginning.
BC Government COVID resources:
The following list of resources about COVID-19 has been provided by the BC Ministry of Health as of July 9, 2021:
To register to be immunized or to learn about getting your second dose, visit: www2.gov.bc.ca/getvaccinated.html (https://www2.gov.bc.ca/getvaccinated.html) or https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/covid-19/vaccine/dose-2
To learn about BC’s Restart plan, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/covid-19/info/restart . BC is currently in Step 3 (as of July 1, 2021).
For recent modelling, visit: http://news.gov.bc.ca/files/6-28_PHO_presentation.pdf
For information on breakthrough cases, please see the BCCDC weekly data summary: http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/data#summary
For the provincial health officer’s orders and guidance, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/about-bc-s-health-care-system/office-of-the-provincial-health-officer/current-health-topics/covid-19-novel-coronavirus
For guidance on restrictions, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/emergency-preparedness-response-recovery/covid-19-provincial-support/restrictions
Social media:
The latest updates, including case counts, prevention, risks and to find a testing centre near you: http://www.bccdc.ca/ or follow @CDCofBC on Twitter.
COVID case data and vaccination updates are posted on a regular basis by Health Minister Adrian Dix on Twitter at @adriandix .
The BC Government posts their various COVID and immunization program information and livestreamed media sessions on Twitter at @BCGovNews .
Island Social Trends has initiated the Twitter hashtag #notoveryet which we will continue to use so long as active COVID-19 infections continue in BC.
Test-positive case numbers:
As of July 9, there are 661 active cases of COVID-19 in BC, with 45 of those new on that day. There are still 73 people hospitalized from COVID-19 in BC, with 19 people in ICU (total 8,067 hospitalizations pandemic-to-date — which is a large number to indicate impact on the acute-care health-care system). But there were no new deaths reported yesterday (total count stands at 1,760). The positivity rate is 1.0% (i.e. one infection transmitted from each COVID-infected person).
As of July 9, there are 21 active cases of COVID-19 on Vancouver Island, with four of those new on that day. There are still three people hospitalized from COVID-19 in Island Health, with one person in ICU (total 255 hospitalizations pandemic to date). There have been no new deaths in Island Health since May 31 (total count stands at 41). The positivity rate has been steadily at or around 0.4% for the past week (i.e. fewer than one infection transmitted from each COVID-infected person).
Vaccination levels in BC & Canada:
Based on information released from BC Health, as of July 9, of all eligible British Columbians (i.e. age 12 years and older) 78.6% have received a first dose of any of the three COVID-19 vaccines that are approved for use in Canada (i.e. Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and AstraZeneca). Among adults only (age 18+), 79.7% have received a first dose. This percentage has been inching up by about 0.1% per day in recent weeks.
Full vaccination is achieved with two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, say health officials. So far, 41.3% of all eligible British Columbians (age 12+) have received a second dose, while 44.2% of adults (age 18+) have received a second dose.
It’s worth noting (as a federal election might be upcoming this summer or early fall) that the level of first-dose immunization of *all* Canadians (of all ages, including children) is only 67.93% and just over one-third (35.91%) have received a second dose, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada COVID vaccination information page.
Exposure lists for BC:
For COVID-19 exposure events, updates and information, visit:
- BCCDC: http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/public-exposures
- Fraser Health: fraserhealth.ca/covid19exposure
- Interior Health: https://news.interiorhealth.ca/news/public-exposures/
- Island Health: https://www.islandhealth.ca/learn-about-health/covid-19/outbreaks-and-exposures
- Northern Health: https://www.northernhealth.ca/health-topics/outbreaks-and-exposures
- Vancouver Coastal Health: http://www.vch.ca/covid-19/public-exposures
