Case counts down but more people in B.C. hospitals with COVID

The number of people in hospital in B.C. climbed to 288 as of today, March 28, up from 260 on Friday.

Of those, 48 are in intensive care units, according to a province of B.C. news release.

About half the of people in hospital with a COVID diagnosis were not there because of COVID, but were tested after going to hospital for things like surgery, delivering a baby or being admitted to a mental health unit.

Over the weekend there were 207 new cases of COVID reported in B.C. on Saturday, 197 on Sunday and 155 in the last 24 hours. That compares to 218 reported last Friday.

The Interior Health region reported 144 new cases over the weekend, or an average of 48 per day. Last Friday, there were 80 new cases reported.

There were 110 new cases in Fraser Health over the weekend, 109 in Vancouver Coastal, 151 on Vancouver Island and 42 in the Northern Health region.

The real number of cases is estimated to be three to four times higher because many people infected with COVID are not getting tested or take rapid tests that are not included in these figures.

There were six new deaths recorded over the weekend, none of which were in Interior Health, bringing the pandemic total at 2,989.

The vaccination rate for people over the age of 12 with at least one dose remains unchanged at 93.4%, as does the rate for those with at least two doses at 91% while those with three doses went up slightly to 57.4%.

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