Vaccination clinics continue to operate at a high pace, with over two million people having received at least a first dose. (File Photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

CASE COUNTS

Active COVID-19 cases on central Island drop by one quarter

May 10, 2021 | 4:09 PM

NANAIMO — British Columbia continues the ride down the third wave of COVID-19.

A total of 1,759 cases were confirmed through three reporting periods over the weekend from May 8 to May 10, including 54 within Island Health.

This is down from 2,174 new cases in B.C. and 60 within Island Health over the previous weekend reporting period.

Active cases in Island Health overall dropped by 11 to 169.

The central Island region was the only region to see a decrease in active cases, down 16 to 59. The south Island saw one more active case compared to Friday, May 7, while the north Island saw four.

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Provincially, active cases in B.C. sit at 6,140, a drop of over 600 since Friday. Of the active cases, 415 are being treated in hospital including 150 receiving intensive or critical care.

A further 20 people passed away due to the virus during the three reporting periods, including one within Island Health.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry noted while many of the fatalities were in older people, two were people in their 40s and a further two were in their 50s.

Beginning late Monday, those aged 40 and over will become eligible to book an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccination. Those registered through the province’s website should receive a notification.

To date, around 2.4 million people have registered to be notified when it is their turn to receive a vaccine dose, while 2.16 million doses of vaccine were administered in public health clinics or select pharmacies across B.C.

“COVID-19 continues to spread in our communities which means the risk remains high for all of us right now,” Dr. Henry said. “But as the number of people being immunized increases and our immunity catches up after several weeks, we will be able to start thinking about our post-pandemic future.”

Following a leak of an internal report featuring COVID-19 data last week, the province and public health is preparing to more conveniently release localized information on case and immunization rates.

Dr. Henry said beginning Wednesday, May 12, maps featuring an array of data would be available.

“As cases surged again in this third wave, we’ve been able to modify the data and links so that we can provide information on case rates and now, very recently on immunization rates mostly by community health service area.”

Public health were criticized for not providing full transparency on available data, particularly on neighbourhoods in the Lower Mainland where transmission rates skyrocketed during the third wave.

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