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Numbers of new COVID cases on the North Shore crept up slightly in the past week.
There were 99 new cases of COVID-19 on the North Shore in the past week – a number slightly higher than the 84 cases the week before.
Between Sept. 26 and Oct. 2, there were 84 cases in North Vancouver and 15 in West Vancouver, according to information released by B.C.’s Centre for Disease Control.
The number of new cases on the North Shore remained below 100 this week for the third week in a row – down from the numbers earlier in September when the fourth wave of the pandemic began.
Data from the B.C. CDC shows there has recently been a higher rate of cases in the western part of the District of North Vancouver, where there have been 13 new daily cases per 100,000 people between Sept. 28 and Oct. 4. Positive COVID test rates there are four per cent. Daily case rates on the rest of the North Shore range from a low of two per 100,000 in the lower Ambleside area of West Vancouver to eight per 100,000 in the central area of the District of North Vancouver, with test positivity rates ranging from one to three per cent.
Rates of vaccination on the North Shore are still inching up, very slowly, with between 89 and 93 per cent of people over 12 having received one dose and between 84 and 89 per cent of those fully vaccinated.
Between 81 and 86 per cent of teens between 12 and 17 are fully vaccinated on the North Shore while between 80 and 88 per cent of adults between 18 and 49 have received both shots. Rates of vaccination remain highest in adults over 50.
Provincially, 752 new cases of COVID-19 were reported Wednesday. A total of 350 people were in hospital with COVID, or COVID-related complications, while 136 people were in intensive care.
In the past week, about 70 per cent of hospitalizations in the province were among people not fully vaccinated.
Hot spots continue to be in the Interior and Northern health regions, as well as in the eastern Fraser Valley.
On Thursday, BC Premier John Horgan called the current situation a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
The B.C. government recently announced a mandatory vaccine mandate for all provincial government workers, adding to the vaccine requirement for all federal government workers. The province has stopped short of making vaccines mandatory for teachers and school staff, however, and is leaving those decisions up to individual school boards.
Since school started, there has been a significant increase in COVID-19 cases among school-aged children 5 – 11 years old, who can’t yet be vaccinated, according to the BC CDC. There has also been an increase in the numbers of children being tested, as other respiratory viruses have started to circulate more widely again in a way they didn’t last year.
A decision from Health Canada on approvals for vaccines for children under 12 is expected soon.
