COVID numbers continue to tick upwards as B.C. records 267 new cases over 3 days

B.C. health officials have announced 267 new cases of COVID-19 and one more death over the last three days. 

That's an average of 89 new cases a day over the weekend, with the seven-day rolling average increasing 154 per cent in three weeks. 

In a written statement, the provincial government said there are currently 695 active cases of people infected with the novel coronavirus in B.C., up by 100 over the last three days.

A total of 43 people are in hospital with the disease, the lowest hospitalization numbers since Sept. 10. Seventeen people are in intensive care, up from 12 a week ago.

Overall hospitalizations, which typically lag behind spikes and dips in new cases, are down by 12 per cent from last Monday, when 49 people were in hospital with the disease. 

The provincial death toll from COVID-19 is now 1,768 lives lost out of 149,109 confirmed cases to date.

So far, 6,584,264 doses of vaccine have been administered, including 2,783,587 second doses.

Uptick in cases

As COVID-19 cases slowly increase in B.C., health officials and modelling experts say the majority of those cases are among unvaccinated people, and that the increase was predicted as the province loosening restrictions on movement and social gatherings.

Health Minister Adrian Dix said Friday that 78 per cent of new cases recorded between June 15 and July 15 were among unvaccinated people.

CBC News has spoken to some unvaccinated Canadians to learn more about the hesitancy that has taken hold in some pockets of the country.

Many of the holdouts say they're concerned about safety and side-effects. Others say they're not happy with the current products on offer.

There are also practical considerations.

A number of the unvaccinated have a needle-related phobia that can make getting a shot a frightening experience. Some have severe allergies to the vaccine components. Some rural Canadians have had trouble with access.

Among the biggest unknowns for the future of the pandemic remains the highly transmissible delta variant now circulating in Canada — though a recent study has shown that two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca-Oxford's COVID-19 vaccines are nearly as effective against the delta coronavirus variant as they are against the previously dominant alpha variant.

Mink farm outbreak

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, two mink have tested positive for COVID-19 on a farm under quarantine after it had a mink test positive in May of 2021. 

Five more mink at the same farm have initially tested positive. Final testing results are still pending.

As a result, the ministry says it's issuing a provincial health order to all mink farm operators in the province, that places a moratorium on any new mink farms in B.C. and caps existing mink farms at their current numbers.

Three B.C. mink farms have had mink test positive for the virus since December 2020 and all three remain under quarantine

British Columbians aged 12 and over who have not yet been immunized can register in three ways:

• Online through the Get Vaccinated portal.
• By calling 1-833-838-2323. Translators are available in 140 languages.
• In person at any Service B.C. location.