With 82.1% of the province's eligible population having had at least one jab of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 70.6% of eligible recipients being fully vaccinated, most people eager to get vaccinated have already done so.
This has prompted a drop in the number of people visiting vaccination centres, and was likely why Health Minister Adrian Dix yesterday announced that appointments at those centres are no longer necessary.
There were only 20,006 vaccine doses provided to British Columbians' in the past 24 hours. Health officials have not administered so few doses in a single day since April 6, when the government said 18,466 doses were administered. April 6 was an anomaly at the time, however, as all other days in that calendar week had more than 34,000 doses provided.
The struggle to get vaccine stragglers into clinics comes as the number of individuals with active COVID-19 infections in B.C. keeps jumping to new months-high levels.
There are now 3,284 people in B.C. actively battling COVID-19 infections, including 395 whose illness was diagnosed in the past 24 hours. The last time more British Columbians had active COVID-19 infections was May 28, when 3,441 residents were fighting the disease.
Most of the active infections in B.C. are in the Interior Health region. The active cases include:
• 619 in Fraser Health (18.8%);
• 430 in Vancouver Coastal Health (13.1%);
• 1,893 in Interior Health (57.6%);
• 111 in Northern Health (3.4%);
• 218 in Island Health (6.6%); and
• 13 people who normally reside outside the province.
Serious infections are also on the rise. A net total of three more people were admitted to B.C. hospitals with COVID-19 in the past day, for a total of 71. The last time B.C. hospitals had more such patients was on July 9, when 73 individuals were fighting fo their lives. Of the 71 people now hospitalized, 23 are in intensive care units (ICUs).
Fortunately, health officials know of no new COVID-19-related deaths in the past day. That leaves the province's death toll from the pandemic at 1,777 people.
More than 96.6%, or 148,215, of the 153,313 people known to have contracted COVID-19 in B.C. are considered by the province to have recovered because they have gone 10 days after first feeling symptoms, and are therefore not thought to be infectious.
While B.C.'s Interior Health region remains the province's hot spot, it no longer accounts for a majority of new cases.
Here is a breakdown of where the 395 new COVID-19 infections are in B.C.:
• 100 in Fraser Health (25.3%);
• 61 in Vancouver Coastal Health (15.4%);
• 187 in Interior Health (47.3%);
• 15 in Northern Health (3.8%);
• 31 in Island Health (7.8%); and
• one person who normally resides outside the province.
No new outbreaks have been detected at B.C. seniors' homes.
That leaves seven such homes with active outbreaks:
• KinVillage in South Delta;
• Discovery Harbour in Campbell River;
• Kootenay Street Village in Cranbrook;
• Cottonwoods Care Centre in Kelowna;
• Brookhaven Care Centre in West Kelowna;
• Holyrood Manor in Maple Ridge; and
• Nelson Jubilee Manor in Nelson.
