British Columbia reported another 14 COVID-19-related deaths on Wednesday, as the number of cases in hospital fell again towards 400.
Health officials said there were 405 positive cases in hospital, down 14 overnight, including 58 in critical or intensive care, an overnight drop of five.
The hospital case total is more than 61 per cent below British Columbia’s peak of 1,048 on Jan. 31. The province last reported a hospitalization count under 400 on Jan. 7.
Health officials also confirmed another 274 new cases on Wednesday, though daily case counts are no longer viewed as an accurate measure of the virus’ spread due to limitations on testing.
As of Wednesday, 87.8 per cent of B.C.’s population (90.7 per cent of those eligible) had received one dose of vaccine, 83.8 per cent of B.C.’s population (86.6 per cent of those eligible) had received two doses and 48.9 per cent of B.C.’s population (58.2 per cent of those eligible) had received three doses.
People with two or more doses of vaccine accounted for 81.3 per cent of cases over the past week and 69.6 per cent of hospitalizations over the past two weeks.
However, data from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control continues to show the unvaccinated are at significantly higher risk of serious outcomes.
From Feb. 5 to Mar. 4, per 100,000 population, there were 120.9 unvaccinated cases in hospital, 32.2 unvaccinated cases in ICU and 14 deaths among the unvaccinated, compared to 40.5 vaccinated (two dose) cases in hospital, 9.9 vaccinated cases in ICU and 6.6 deaths among people with two doses.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry is expected to make a significant announcement on remaining COVID-19 restrictions on Thursday, as other provinces move to drop mask mandates and vaccine passport programs.
Since the start of the pandemic, B.C. has reported, 351,415 cases, while 2,929 people have died.