Updated provincial data shows second dose vaccinations against COVID-19 among eligible Burnaby children continues to lag.
According to the BC Centre for Disease Control's (BCCDC) COVID-19 surveillance dashboard, Burnaby sits at 57 per cent as of June 19, 2022.
The number is the same as it was on June 12, 2022.
Meanwhile, provincial data released by the province says new COVID-19 infections in Burnaby dropped in the past week.
According to the BC Centre for Disease Control's (BCCDC) Geographic Distribution of COVID-19 by Local Health Area of Crase Residence, Burnaby recorded 34 cases from June 12 to 18.
The city saw 36 cases from June 5 to 11.
New provincial data also says almost all metrics used to track the COVID-19 pandemic in B.C. dropped in the past week.
The 273 people in B.C. hospitals with COVID-19 is the fewest since March 26, when there were 260 such people and the province provided daily updates. Of those in hospital as of today, 28 are in intensive care units (ICUs). That is up by nine and is the only major metric where there was an increase.
COVID-19 deaths continue to accumulate, but the 26 presumed COVID-19 deaths in the past week is almost half of the 50 such deaths reported one week ago. That weekly death total is up until June 18. It includes anyone who tested positive for COVID-19 within 30 days and then died. That calculation may include people who tested positive and then died in car accidents.
The B.C. government's process is to include those deaths initially, and then have its Vital Statistics Agency determine which deaths were not COVID-19-related, and remove them from the total.
As has been the case in each weekly update since the government shifted to only providing data once per week, the presumed COVID-19 death toll has risen by more than the number of new COVID-19 deaths. That is the opposite of what Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said would happen when she unveiled the new system in early April.
B.C.'s COVID-19 death toll rose by 40 in the week that ended June 18, despite 26 new deaths being reported. When Glacier Media asked the B.C. Ministry of Health about the ongoing disparities in the weekly COVID-19 death totals and the overall death toll, an official said that the reason was that death totals were "tentative."
The province now considers 3,722 people to have died from COVID-19 in B.C. since the first death was announced on March 9, 2020 – a man in his 80s who lived at North Vancouver's Lynn Valley Care Centre.
The British Columbia Centre for Disease Control detected 642 new COVID-19 infections in the week that ended June 18. That is the lowest weekly total since the province shifted to weekly updates, on April 7. It raises the number of known COVID-19 infections in B.C. to 373,974 since the first case was detected in late January 2020.
- with files from Glen Korstrom, Business In Vancouver
