COVID-19: Cases in B.C. hospitals fall to one-month low

The number of COVID-19 cases in B.C. hospitals fell to its lowest point in a month Thursday, amid signs hospital admissions may also be dropping off.

As of Aug. 11, there were 398 positive cases in hospital, the fewest since July 7. There were 22 people in critical care, the fewest since June 16.

The way B.C. reports cases includes anyone who tests positive for the virus, regardless of their reason for admissions.

Thursday’s update from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control also reported 900 new cases in the week ending Aug. 6, however strict limits on testing mean the true number is likely far higher.

Just over 15,000 tests were conducted that week, while the provincewide test positivity rate sat at 10.1 per cent.

Get weekly health news

Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.

Sign up for weekly health newsletter Sign Up

By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

The number of people initially reported to have been admitted to hospital with the virus also fell in the week ending Aug. 6 to 173, the fewest since July 2.

Those figures are preliminary, however, and weekly admission data has been consistently revised upward significantly. For context, the BCCDC originally reported 242 COVID-19 hospital admissions between July 24 and July 30. That number has now been revised to 312, an increase of 28.9 per cent.

The latest update also reported 28 new deaths in the week ending Aug. 6, a figure that comes with multiple caveats.

As with hospital admissions, deaths have consistently been revised upward in future updates.

In the previous reporting period, the BCCDC initially documented 28 deaths for the week ending July 30. That number has now been revised up to 54, an increase of 92.8 per cent.

However, the province’s COVID fatality metric includes all deaths of any cause among people who tested positive for the virus in the 30 days prior, which officials acknowledge overestimates deaths.

A BCCDC review found that between April 9 and June 18, about 43 per cent of deaths counted under the model were actually a result of COVID-19.

Updated information on severe outcomes such as hospitalization and death by vaccine status is no longer being reported by the BCCDC as of July 28.