COVID case counts increases, as do deaths, with push now moving forward for second dose vaccinations

The road back from COVID will seemingly have many stops and starts and today provided for a slowing of the recent success in reducing case counts, with a jump back upwards with 378 new cases, along with seven more passings to report.

The information session, streamed live across the province also provided updates on the vaccination program which will begin to accelerate, with second dose planning moving forward significantly from even just a few weeks ago.

“Today, we are reporting 378 new cases, for a total of 143,264 cases in British Columbia. 

There are 3,543 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and a further 137,929 people who tested positive have recovered. 

Of the active cases, 286 individuals are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 88 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation. 

There have been seven new COVID-19 related deaths, for a total of 1,690 deaths in British Columbia. Our condolences are with the family, friends and caregivers of the people who have died as a result of COVID-19."

Across the province the data results included: 98 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 189 new cases in the Fraser Health region, nine in the Island Health region, 68 in the Interior Health region, 

There were 14 new cases recorded  in the Northern Health region, that brings the total to date of COVID cases in the Northern health region to 7,625 since January 2020. 

No new cases of COVID were reported by people inn British Columbia who reside outside of Canada. 

The pace of the vaccination program continued to show good results with todays update noting that 3,032,811 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 155,730 of which are second doses. This means 65.8% of all adults and 62% of those 12 and older have now received their first dose. 

"Currently, all of the approved vaccines in use in B.C. require a second booster dose to maximize protection for the maximum amount of time. Age continues to be the biggest risk factor and we will be continuing with our age-based approach. 

With the large number of Dose 1 immunizations in our province, we are advancing second-dose booster vaccines. We are moving up the booking of second doses for our age-based and clinically extremely vulnerable programs to eight weeks. “If you are not yet registered, we strongly encourage you to do so today, in which case, you will be notified by email or text for your second dose as soon as your age group comes up.

Doctor Henry and Minister Dix also outlined some notes on the revised measures for religious services effective today.

 “As part of BC’s Restart plan, today an updated provincial health officer's order variance for religious services will be posted, allowing for up to 50 people at indoor religious services, with detailed COVID-19 safety plans in place. “

The full statement for Thursday can be reviewed here. 

BC CDC data for British Columbia for Tuesday, May 27

BC CDC data for Northern Health Region for Tuesday, May 27

The BC Centre for Disease control has some valuable Coronavirus notes related to COVID-19 you can explore that information here.

You can learn more about the outbreak from both the Province and the Federal government from the links below:

Federal Government site

British Columbia Government site

The World Health Organization website also offers up the latest advisories on the global situation.

More from  Northern Health can be reviewed here 

You can review our archive of past statements and local information here.   

Local governments and organizations have also provided for increased awareness of COVID-19 issues, those past advisories  can be reviewed here.

For notes from across Canada and British Columbia we have been archiving the latest items through our political portal Darcy McGee

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