B.C. COVID-19 hospitalizations up 58% in two weeks as infections and deaths spike

COVID-19 cases are on the rise in B.C., with the BC Centre for Disease Control reporting hospitalizations have increased 58 per cent in the past two weeks.

The centre says in its latest update that deaths due to COVID-19 are also trending upwards, with 24 fatalities in the last week of September, compared to nine in the second week of August.

It says new infections rose from 133 cases to 877 cases in the same period, having “increased notably” among people 60 and older.

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There were 422 people in hospital with COVID-19 on Thursday, compared to 267 on Sept. 21, and over the same time period, the number in critical care rose from 17 to 26.

The centre says COVID-19 levels detected in wastewater are up at every monitored treatment plant in the province, coinciding with the spike in new cases.

The latest numbers also show more people aged 80 and older have been getting tested for COVID-19 over the last few weeks, with nearly 35 per cent of those coming out positive in the last week of September.

When numbers for the disease shot up two weeks prior, Canada’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Theresa Tam has been adamant in her messaging, encouraging people to get the updated COVID-19 vaccine when it’s released to the public, which is expected sometime in October.

The province announced last week that its fall vaccination campaign would be starting up this month. Invitations for COVID and flu vaccines are expected to start going out after Thanksgiving.

With files from Sonia Aslam