Hundreds still in B.C. hospitals with COVID as numbers slowly fall

While progress is slow, the number of people sick enough with COVID to be in hospital continues its steady decline.

There are 484 people in hospital with a COVID diagnosis today, March 4, according to a Ministry of Health news release. That’s down from 511 yesterday.

Of those, 69 are in intensive care units, down from 79 yesterday.

About half the of people in hospital with a COVID diagnosis were not in 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.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that deaths from COVID continue to accrue with eight more recorded in the last 24 hours, including one in the Interior Health region. That brings the death toll to 2,903.

In the last 24 hours, there were 340 new COVID cases recorded in B.C. with 113 in Interior Health, 71 in Fraser Health, 41 in Vancouver Coastal, 65 on Vancouver Island and 50 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 recorded in these figures.

The vaccination rate for people over the age of 12 with at least one dose remains at 93.3%, as does the 90.8% who have at least two doses There was a slight increase, to 56%, for those who have three doses.

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