The number of people with COVID-19 in British Columbia hospitals has fallen to its lowest point since mid-April, according to the province’s latest weekly update.
As of Thursday there were 473 cases in hospital, a one-week decline of 67, and 42 cases in intensive care, a one-week drop of seven, according to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
Under B.C.’s “census” reporting model, all positive cases are counted regardless of the reason the patient was admitted to hospital.
The BCCDC also reported 1,358 cases for the week ending May 21, though due to restrictions on PCR testing the true figure is likely significantly higher.
British Columbia’s weekly data reporting regime also provides information on hospital admissions and deaths, though both metrics are only current as of May 21, and are typically revised upward significantly in following weeks.
For the week ending May 21, the BCCDC reported 282 hospital admissions. The figure reported last week of 334 admission between May 8 and May 14 has now been revised up by 16 per cent to 388.
Admissions do, however, appear to be trending downward. Looking at data following revisions since the end of April, admissions have declined from 434 (Apr. 24 to Apr.30) to 391 (May 1 to May 7) to 388 (May 8 to May 14.)
The latest weekly data reports 42 deaths between May 15 and May 21, a figure that is also preliminary and expected to be revised upward. The figure reported last week of 59 deaths between May 8 and May 14 has since been revised upward by 45 per cent to 86.
Moreover, the way the province now tracks deaths, dubbed “all cause mortality,” includes all deaths in the reporting period among those who tested positive for COVID-19 in the prior 30 days.
Health officials have said this model likely overestimates deaths, but have yet to release a promised “retrospective evaluation” to “better understand true COVID-19 mortality.”
On a per-capita basis, unvaccinated people remain about twice as likely than those who have had two or three doses to end up in hospital, according to BCCDC monthly data.
Unvaccinated people are also nearly four times as likely than people with three doses or twice as likely than people with two doses to be admitted to the ICU.
Death rates, however, have narrowed with 8.1 unvaccinated people per 100,000 population dying, compared to 7.8 for people with two doses or 5.5 for people with three doses. However the the province’s more expansive “all cause mortality” definition of deaths may be affecting this figure.
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