COVID hospitalizations decline over weekend in B.C.

There were almost 1,000 new COVID cases recorded in B.C. over the weekend but the numbers in hospital and intensive care continue to slowly decline.

There are 449 people in hospital with a COVID diagnosis today, March 7, according to a Ministry of Health news release. That’s down from 484 Friday.

Of those, 63 are in intensive care units, a drop of six from Friday.

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

Eleven more deaths were recorded over the weekend, including three in the Interior Health region, bringing the pandemic death toll to 2,914.

Over the weekend, there were 997 new COVID cases recorded in B.C., including 385 on Saturday, 327 on Sunday and 285 in the last 24 hours.

Of the new cases, 242 were in Interior Health, 263 in Fraser Health, 209 in Vancouver Coastal, 204 on Vancouver Island and 79 in the Northern Health region.

These numbers are provisional due to a delayed data refresh, the ministry said.

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 recorded in these figures.

The vaccination rate for people over the age of 12 with at least one dose remains unchanged at 93.3%, as does the 90.8% who have at least two doses There was a slight increase, to 56.2%, for those who have three doses.

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