Another 59 people died in British Columbia last week after testing positive for COVID-19, while the number of patients in intensive care with the disease appears to have increased, according to the province’s latest pandemic reports.
As of Thursday, 596 people are in hospital with the new coronavirus, including 54 in intensive care, according to BC’s COVID-19 dashboard.
That would be an eight percent increase in total hospitalizations from last Thursday, when the province reported 550 people in hospital. The number of patients in the intensive care unit increased by 38% compared to 39 a week ago.
But all the data published by the province are preliminary and week-to-week comparisons have become difficult.
Under BC’s current reporting system for COVID-19, the figures published for a given week will be adjusted retrospectively and will often change significantly until the next reports are published.
For example, a week ago, a weekly report from the BC Centers for Disease Control said that between April 24 and 30, Fifty people died within 30 days of a positive COVID-19 test.
IN the latest report released on thursday now says 68 people have died during that time, a 36 per cent jump from what was reported earlier.
The figures, released on Thursday, are part of a relatively recent approach that BC health officials introduced earlier this year, both in the transition to weekly reporting and in the calculation of certain indicators.
It seems that the new cases have been terminated
The BCCDC report shows that between 1 and 7 May 1987 new cases of COVID-19 were reported, based solely on the results reported by the laboratory, for a total of 367,559 cases to date.
The report shows that the number of new cases has fallen by about 13% from the 2,283 reported in the previous week. However, as tests are now quite limited, the number of cases underestimates the true number of people with COVID-19 in British Columbia.
A total of 331 people were admitted to hospital with COVID-19 between May 1 and 7, according to the BCCDC.
The current estimate of deaths during this time is 59, a figure that is reported in a very different way from the past.
These deaths included all those who died within 30 days of a positive COVID-19 test, whether or not the virus was confirmed as the leading cause of death. Previously, every death was investigated to determine if COVID-19 was the cause.
The test positive rate is still high, reaching 10.6% across the province on May 7. The positivity rate ranges from 19.9% in the Island Health area to 6.5% in the Vancouver Coastal Health area, according to the scoreboard.
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said anything over 5 percent of the test positive is an indicator of a more alarming level of transmission.
Testing of wastewater at five different treatment plants, representing 50 per cent of the population of British Columbia, shows a declining trend in four of the five sites as of 7 May and there is no clear trend for the fifth, according to the latest BCCDC situation report.
BC has abolished mandatory camouflage requirements in most indoor public places on March 10and requirements for proof of vaccination on April 8
Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry said at the time that BC had a high enough vaccination rate, that such requirements were no longer needed to prevent hospital overcrowding.
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