Wednesday January 5, 2022 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc. | Island Social Trends
As a third calendar year gets rolling within the COVID-19 pandemic, Island Health today saw a record number of new cases: 566.
The total active case count was 3,631 today in Island Health. That’s up in just five days from 2,336 at year-end 2021.
Total cases, pandemic-to-date, are 19,871. That’s up by 2,037 (10.3% of total cases pandemic-to-date) in just five days, from 17,834 at December 31, 2021.
Highest-yet positivity:
The positivity rate is at its highest-ever point on the Island at 27.2%. That’s above the current BC average of 23.9%.
Hospitalizations increasing:
Active hospitalizations are inching up in number. Today 63 (with 14 in ICU), up from 61 (with 15 in ICU) yesterday, and clearly up from 53 (12 in ICU) on December 31 at year-end 2021.
Back on the first of December there were 49 hospitalizations (15 ICU), a week later December 8 through 13 hospitalizations were holding in the 33 to 34 range, then started to increase in number.
Total Island Health hospitalizations pandemic-to-date stands at 817 (that’s an additional 148 or 18.1% since December 1, 2021).
Different type of illness:
Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry says the Omicron variant is producing less severe illness than the Delta variant, but that could in part be due to most people being immunized.
Even people who have received COVID-19 vaccination are acquiring the Omicron variant, says Dr Henry. In the last two weeks or so, she has said that everyone should expect to be exposed to Omicron at some point, and if experiencing COVID (respiratory or cold/flu-like symptoms) to assume it’s a COVID infection at this point.
‘Everyone will know someone who has COVID’, said Dr Henry this week. Island Social Trends is taking a simple Yes/No poll as to whether you know anyone directly (family, friend or co-worker) who has become infected with COVID. Anonymous poll open to 11 am on January 7, 2022.
Deaths:
Apparently the number of deaths from COVID will not be as high with the Omicron variant. Vaccination is thought to be helping with immune response to the infection, helping to prevent the infection from becoming too severe.
COVID deaths to date at January 5, 2022 in Island Health stand at 145. That’s up from 122 (15.9% of the total deaths) just over a month ago at December 1, 2021.
Vaccinations:
In Island Health at January 5, 2022 there have been 1,604,898 COVID vaccine doses (all types) administered. pandemic-to-date. Of those, 681,068 have been second doses, and 199,039 third (booster) doses.
The pediatric Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 years has been administered as 25,181 doses so far in Island Health.
Of all COVID vaccine doses administered in Island Health, 60% of them have been the adult-dose (30 mcg) Pfizer-BioNTech, 36.1% have been Moderna, 2.3% AstraZeneca, and 1.6% pediatric Pfizer (10 mcg).
===== RELATED:
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COVID rolls into 2022: tough couple of weeks ahead (January 4, 2022)