The number of patients in intensive care with COVID-19 has dropped below 20 as the downward trend in hospitalizations continues, according to the latest data from the province.
On Wednesday, 276 people with COVID are in the hospital, including 19 in intensive care, according to the BC COVID-19 control panel.
This represents a 15% decrease in global hospitalizations compared to last Thursday, when the province reported 325 hospitalized people. The number of patients in the ICU is less than half that of two weeks ago, when the province had 41 people with COVID in intensive care.
The government says its weekly figures are preliminary. He has been adjusting them retroactively due to delays in the count and the new way of measuring weekly cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
The figures released on Thursday are part of a relatively recent shift in the approach of BC health officials, both in the transition to weekly reports and in how certain metrics are calculated.
Much of the data for the province is found a weekly report from the BC Center for Disease Controlwhich includes cases, hospital admissions, and deaths, although all of these numbers are at least five days old.
The province recorded 50 deaths between June 5 and 11. This figure, which is being reported differently than in the past, includes the death of anyone who tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 30 days, whether or not. confirmed as a contributing factor to his death.
The death toll is also likely to change significantly next week.
During the last reporting period, the province said 43 people had died between May 29 and June 4. This figure now stands at 57, an increase of almost a third.
This week’s BCCDC report shows that 726 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded between June 5 and 11, a decrease of 19% from the 895 reported the previous week. The latest figures, which are based solely on reported laboratory results, put the total number of reported cases at 373,336.
Due to the limited availability of laboratory tests, the province says the case count underestimates the actual number of people with COVID-19 in BC. Quick home test results are not included in weekly issues.
Positivity rates decreased or remained stable in all health authorities from May 29 to June 4, according to the BC Center for Disease Control COVID-19 status report, which ranged from 7.7% to Northern Health up 18.8% to Island Health.
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has said that anything above a five percent positivity rate indicates a more worrying level of transmission.
The data show a decrease in viral loads at four of Metro Vancouver’s five wastewater plants.
Viral loads on Annacis Island are half what they were seven weeks ago, while northwest Langley has seen a 81% drop in six weeks. Loads on Iona Island have dropped 47% in the past two weeks, while Lions Gate has dropped 54% in the past four weeks.