Hospitalizations decline for first time in over a month in B.C.’s latest weekly COVID-19 report

In the May 12 COVID update, the province provided updated numbers for Apr. 24 to Apr. 30.

The updated numbers show there were 68 people who died and 434 admitted to hospital.

You can read the full update here.

This story was based on the numbers provided by the province at the time. The original story is preserved below.

The BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) has released its latest weekly report on COVID-19 and for the first time in over a month, hospitalizations have shown a decline in numbers.

The Province is reporting that there are currently 550 residents in hospital as a result of COVID-19, with 39 people in critical care.

Both those totals are down from last week when the Province reported 570 hospitalizations and 47 in critical care.

The dip in hospitalizations marks the first time the number has declined in the province since B.C. switched over to weekly reporting at the end of March. In that time period, hospitalizations have more than doubled with the province entering the fifth wave of COVID-19.

During the past week, B.C. recorded 2,283 cases of COVID-19 through PCR tests, which is only a 14-case increase from the week prior, with 379 of those cases located in the Vancouver Island Health Authority.

B.C. does not have a way for people to report rapid test results and does not include rapid test results in COVID updates.

Currently only immunocompromised people, people with high-risk conditions, people 70 or older, people who aren’t fully vaccinated, or people whose medical care may be affected by a positive result are eligible for PCR tests.

The BC CDC also says that 50 people died between Apr. 24 and Apr. 30 from the virus, bringing the provincial total over the course of the pandemic to 3,226.

In the same period, 375 people were admitted to hospital with COVID.

The number of deaths and hospital admissions are provisional and subject to change.

As such, the prior week, between Apr. 17 and Apr. 23 the number of hospital admissions and deaths increased from what was reported the previous week.

In that week, there were 418 hospital admissions, instead of the 355 the province announced last week, and there were 66 deaths, instead of the 42 previously reported.

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