Almost all metrics that track the COVID-19 pandemic fell in BC last week, according to new provincial government data.
The 273 people in BC hospitals with COVID-19 are the lowest since March 26, when there were 260 people and the province provided daily updates. Of those hospitalized to date, 28 are in intensive care units (ICUs). It is a new increase and is the only major metric where there has been an increase.
Deaths from COVID-19 continue to pile up, but the 26 presumed deaths from COVID-19 last week are nearly half of the 50 deaths of this type reported a week ago. This weekly total of deaths reaches June 18. It includes anyone who tested positive for COVID-19 within 30 days and then died. This calculation may include people who tested positive and then died in traffic accidents.
The BC government’s process is to include these deaths initially and then have its Vital Statistics Agency determine which deaths were unrelated to COVID-19 and eliminate them from the total.
As has been the case in every weekly update since the government went on to provide data only once a week, the number of deaths from COVID-19 allegedly has increased more than the number of new deaths from COVID-19. This is the opposite of what the provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, said would happen when she introduced the new system in early April.
The death toll from COVID-19 in BC increased by 40 the week ending June 18, although 26 new deaths were reported. When Glacier Media asked the BC Ministry of Health about the current disparities in the weekly total deaths from COVID-19 and the total number of deaths, a The officer said the reason was that the total deaths were “provisional. “
The province now estimates that 3,722 people have died from COVID-19 in BC since the first death was announced on March 9, 2020: an 80-year-old man living in the Lynn Valley Care Center in North Vancouver .
The Center for Disease Control in British Columbia detected 642 new COVID-19 infections in the week ending June 18. This is the lowest weekly total since the province passed the weekly updates, on April 7th. Increases the number of known COVID-19 infections. in BC at 373,974 since the first case was detected in late January 2020.
Data on new infections, however, have long since been widely rejected, and even Henry earlier this year called the information “inaccurate.” This is because in December he started telling people that they were vaccinated and had mild symptoms that they should not be tested and that they should simply be isolated. He said then that this was to increase the ability to test for those with more severe symptoms and those who are more vulnerable.
It is now recommended to test only in cases where knowing the test result could change treatment recommendations.
The 12,215 COVID-19 tests performed in BC the week ending June 18 were also the fewest tests performed in a week since the change to weekly data reports. The drop in weekly tests was especially marked last week, with more than a third fewer tests performed, compared to 18,397 tests last week, which was at the time the fewest tests performed since they were introduced. weekly data updates.
The province’s positive test rate rose to 5.26 percent the week ended June 18, from 3.95 percent for the week ended June 11, which was the lowest since the start of the weekly data report.