Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry spoke on Friday, May 7 following a data breach of neighbourhood-specific COVID-19 information. (BC Government)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

covid-19 update

Island Health COVID cases continue dropping, higher rate seen across B.C

May 7, 2021 | 4:42 PM

NANAIMO — The number of COVID-19 cases in Island Health continue to drop to pre-third wave levels.

The health authority confirmed 16 new cases on Friday, May 7. This is the lowest number of new cases confirmed since March 17, which was a fluke day flanked by days with considerably higher totals.

The number of active cases dropped to 180, the lowest since mid-February. This is down seven from the day before.

Central Vancouver Island saw half of the new cases confirmed, where the number of active cases rose by one.

Across B.C., 722 new cases were found, significantly higher than numbers seen all week, which dropped to roughly 570 only two days before.

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There are 6,757 active cases. The number of people in hospital remained at 445 with 157 of them receiving intensive care.

The province reported seven new deaths.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said 45 per cent of eligible B.C. residents have received their first dose of vaccine.

She said Island Health was the only B.C. health authority to be relatively spared by the virus.

She was questioned repeatedly on Friday about a lack of BC CDC data presented to the public, which was narrow enough to identify transmission from neighbourhood to neighbourhood.

“People think that they have no risk if there’s not a high risk of transmission or cases identified in their community, that’s not the case. We need to be wary that people bring risk with them. This is a virus transmitted by people and people moving brings risk to an area where they may not feel at risk at all.”

Dr. Henry said the province is on the right track to lift restrictions eventually in a careful manner.

“It’s about how do we make sure we’re protecting people who are most at risk and that’s where vaccination comes in. Then how do we manage it as we would any other respiratory illness…so that we aren’t getting the impacts on our healthcare system that make it so challenging to manage this disease.”

Ramifications of restrictions, such as roadblocks to prevent travel out of health authorities, are slowly being put into place.

The first roadblocks were established last weekend, two weeks after the idea was first introduced. Three more in the Fraser River area are expected this weekend.

None are on Vancouver Island.

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