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The number of new COVID cases on the North Shore fell in the past week.
There were 40 new cases of COVID-19 on the North Shore in the past week – 10 less than the number reported last week.
Between Nov. 7 and 13 there were 31 cases in North Vancouver and 9 in West Vancouver, according to information released by B.C.’s Centre for Disease Control.
Data from the B.C. CDC shows rates of new infections have been highest in Bowen Island/Lions Bay where they went from zero daily cases per 100,000 to eight daily cases per 100,000.
Positivity rates for COVID-19 tests on the North Shore range from one per cent in the eastern part of the district to nine per cent on Bowen Island/Lions Bay. Positivity rates were between two and three percent in most areas of the North Shore, which is about half the provincial average.
Rates of vaccination on the North Shore are still inching up, with between 91 and 95 per cent of people over 12 already having received one dose and between 88 and 92 per cent of those fully vaccinated as of Nov. 2.
Between 89 and 92 per cent of teens between 12 and 17 are fully vaccinated on the North Shore while between 86 and 93 per cent of adults between 18 and 49 have received both shots. Rates of vaccination remain highest in adults over 50 with between 90 and 92 per cent fully vaccinated.
Provincially, 324 new cases of COVID-19 were reported Wednesday. A total of 379 were hospitalized with the virus and 108 people were in intensive care in hospital.
There is currently one outbreak still active at a North Shore seniors’ home – at Amica’s Edgemont seniors home.
According to B.C.’s Centre for Disease Control, the number of current outbreaks at health care facilities is similar to the number at the same time last year. The BC CDC also indicated that during the most recent resurgence of the pandemic, up to 20 per cent of cases in those 70 and older have been among residents of long-term care.
In the past two weeks about 64 per cent of hospitalizations in the province from COVID were among people who were not vaccinated.
This week, Dr. Bonnie Henry, the province’s medical health officer, also reported B.C. has reported its first case of a sub-strain of the Delta variant AY4.2 in a Fraser Valley family. That sub-strain of the virus was first identified in the U.K. and is thought to be more transmissible than the “regular” Delta strain.
An announcement about approvals for a vaccine for children 5 to 11 is also expected imminently from Health Canada, said Henry.
