British Columbia health officials are reporting 1,079 new cases of COVID-19 across the province over the past three-day period.
Between Friday and Saturday, there were 422 new cases, from Saturday to Sunday there were 364 new cases and 293 new cases from Sunday to Monday.
Of the total new cases, 62 were located in the Island Health region and there are now currently a total of 145 active COVID-19 cases.
Active cases across the province have now climbed to 3,036.
In a statement released to the media, Dr. Bonnie Henry says that 68 are in hospital with 20 people in critical care as a result of the virus.
Since last week, there have been 142 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 258 in the Fraser Health region, 62 in the Island Health region, 587 in the Interior Health region, 30 in the Northern Health region and no case for people who reside outside of Canada.
There were five additional deaths related to the virus over the last three days. This brings the provincial death total over the course of the pandemic to 1,777.
Also as of Monday, the total number of cases in British Columbia over the course of the pandemic has reached 152,918.
As for the Province’s total vaccination program, B.C. has now administered a total of 7,067,738 doses of COVID-19 immunizations.
Health officials say that equates to first doses for 82.9 per cent of all eligible adult British Columbians and 82.0 per cent of all eligible people 12 and older.
In addition, 72.2 per cent of all eligible adults have received their second dose, totalling 3,121,816 residents.
The Province says that in order to help address community outbreaks and increased cases of the virus among people who have only one dose of the vaccine, health officials will begin offering second-dose appointments at an earlier interval, based on vaccine and appointment availability.
Currently, invitations for the second dose go to people 49 days after their first dose. The Province is transitioning toward offering second-dose vaccinations for people as early as 28 days after their first dose.
Starting on Monday, Aug. 9, the government says invitations to book second-dose appointments will be sent, based on the new 28-day minimum interval. This timeframe will be the same for those who received Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca for their first dose.
“Receiving a second dose earlier is particularly important in high-transmission communities,” reads a statement from provincial health officials. “The recommendation from public health for those not living or working in high-transmission communities continues to be to wait six to eight weeks after the first dose to receive the second dose.”
People throughout B.C. can find their nearest Vax for BC event online by visiting: www.gov.bc.ca/VaxForBC
Island Health
There are currently 173 active coronavirus cases — 12 in North Island, 73 in Central Island and 88 in South Island — on Vancouver Island, which is the highest since early May.
Despite the rise in active cases over the past few weeks, only one person is in hospital on Vancouver Island due to the coronavirus. However, that individual is currently in intensive care.
Though there have been some small declines, active cases have steadily increased since Canada Day, which is when British Columbia loosened restrictions on gatherings and requirements on masks in indoor public spaces.
On July 2, there were 10 active cases identified on Vancouver Island. That figure actually dropped to just nine on July 5 — the Island’s lowest one-day total for the entire year — but slowly climbed upwards over the coming days and weeks. By July 8, the Island’s active case total was 16 and on July 16 it was only at 29. But following a week in the teens, active cases shot up to 61 on July 30. Fast-forward to Aug. 9 and the Island’s active case total is now at 173 — a staggering 1,630 per cent increase since July 2.
Despite all that, it is worth mentioning that while active cases are at their highest level since early May, they are still down 65 per cent from the April 9 total of 508 active cases — the most ever recorded on the Island at a single time. I
When it comes to vaccinations, there were 14,930 doses of vaccine administered — 16 doses of AstraZeneca, 3,641 doses of Moderna and 11,273 doses of Pfizer — in the Island Health region over the weekend.
The total number of doses administered on the Island now stands at 1,174,548 vaccine doses, with 46 per cent of those being second doses. This includes 32,660 doses of AstraZeneca, 285,726 doses of Moderna and 856,162 doses of Pfizer.
Since the pandemic began, there have been 5,453 cases reported, 41 deaths, and 257 total hospitalizations, and 5,220 recoveries recorded on Vancouver Island.
Editor’s note: It is unclear exactly how many of the new cases identified on Vancouver Island are people who are unvaccinated because the provincial government does not supply that data on a daily basis. CHEK News has reached out to the Ministry of Health for a breakdown of infections by vaccination status and health authority.
Graham Cox
Nicholas Pescod
