BC health officials to give updated COVID-19 epidemiological modelling today

BC Health Officials are scheduled to provide a live COVID-19 update on Thursday afternoon, including updated epidemiological modelling.

This update comes after the province recorded 531 COVID-19 cases in the province on Wednesday. There has been one new COVID-19-related death, for a total of 1,394 deaths in British Columbia.

Of the active cases, 244 individuals are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, 66 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.

There have been 51 new confirmed COVID-19 cases that are variants of concern, for a total of 627 cases. Of the total cases, 109 are active, and the remaining people have recovered. This includes 580 cases of the B.1.1.7 (UK) variant, 33 cases of the B.1.351 (South Africa) variant and 14 cases of the P.1 (Brazil) variant.

A total of 79,309 people who tested positive have recovered, and to date, 355,340 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in BC, 86,960 of which are second doses.

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On Wednesday, Health Minister Adrian Dix announced that BC seniors aged 85 and up will be able to book vaccination appointments sooner than expected.

BC is expanding vaccine registration for anyone born in 1936 or earlier at noon on Thursday, March 11.

“We’re allowing people to get their appointments sooner,” Dix said. “This reflects that, for the most part, seniors over 90 have already booked their appointments.

Health officials originally planned to make vaccine appointments available to seniors age 85 to 89 starting March 15.

There were some frustrations with vaccine rollout on Monday, particularly in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, where fewer vaccine appointments were booked compared to other health authorities.

But Dix said the situation has improved, and nearly 3,000 vaccine appointments were booked in VCH Wednesday.

Thursday’s epidemiological modelling update will is scheduled to begin at 1 pm and can be streamed online.

With files from Megan Devlin