The province is assessing additional measures to manage a sustained spike of COVID-19 cases in northern B.C. that has resulted in the transfer of 55 patients — mostly to Vancouver Island hospitals — since early September.
The number of new cases in the province over the long weekend were stable, said provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, but they are still “very high, and that means that we’ve had, again, increasing impact on our hospitals and our critical care.”
In the North Health Authority, however, COVID-19 is “spreading at a higher than average rate,” Henry said Tuesday. The region had 351 people test positive for COVID-19 over the weekend, for a total of 833 active cases.
“People are becoming severely ill — even young people, mostly unvaccinated younger people — and hospitals are pushed to the limit across the north,” Henry said.
The province reported 2,095 new cases of COVID-10 over the Thanksgiving long weekend — 603 new cases Friday, 634 Saturday, 468 Sunday, and 385 Monday. Of the new cases, 292 were in Island Health.
As of Tuesday, there were 5,183 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 357 people in hospital, including 153 in intensive care.
There were 622 active cases in Island Health and 42 COVID-19 patients in hospital, 28 of whom were in critical care beds.
The province reported 28 new deaths over the weekend, including five in Island Health and seven in Northern Health, bringing the provincial death toll to 2,029.
Fourteen critically ill patients from Northern Health were transferred to ICU beds in other regions over the weekend.
This is directly related to the vaccination rates in these communities, Henry said. People living in communities with lower rates of immunization have higher rates of spread and illness, she said.
“[We] are actively working with the Northern Health, my colleagues, to determine what additional measures we may need to break the chains of transmission across many communities in the north,” Henry said.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said there are just 40 critical care beds in Northern Health Authority with an additional 23 surge beds. “We are all-in to support them,” he said, but urged people to get vaccinated to prevent this transmission.
“There are 42 patients with COVID-19 from the North in critical care — not just sick enough to be in hospital, but in critical care today in hospitals in the south,” Dix said.
Henry said it is difficult to see a preventable illness affecting people across the province. “We need to get vaccination rates up to protect people from having severe illness.”
“The actions we take, or choose not to take, affect the children in our lives, affect our elders, and seniors,” Henry said.
There were 20 outbreaks in long-term care, assisted living and health care facilities on Tuesday, including one in Tofino General Hospital.
Dix said 82.6 per cent of people age 12 and older and eligible for the COVID vaccine have been immunized.
Henry said beyond residents of long-term care and assisted living and the clinically extremely vulnerable, the province is also looking at other groups that might need a booster shot in the near future.
“I want to assure everybody that we have enough vaccine for everyone,” she said, “whether it’s for someone in long-term care, for a first dose for children, or if and when a booster will be needed.”
