Publication date: July 7, 2022 • 12 hours ago • 3 minutes of reading • 49 comments The Minister of Health of B.C. Adrian Dix said Thursday that BC is in the third Omicron wave of the COVID pandemic. Photo by NICK PROCAYLO /PNG

Content of the article

As the number of infections and hospitalizations continues to rise, BC Health Minister Adrian Dix said Thursday that BC is in the third Omicron wave of the COVID pandemic.

This ad hasn’t loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Content of the article

Dix was not available for comment on the latest spike in infections in B.C. which mirrors what’s happening in Central Canada and elsewhere, but he confirmed in an interview with CBC that the province is on a new wave. Later in the day, the province released its weekly numbers for COVID-19, showing a 35 per cent increase over last week in the number of people in BC hospitals with COVID-19, to 369 from 273. About 10 per cent one hundred were in intensive care. It is the first time since the beginning of May that hospitalizations have increased. In the week ending July 2, 24 people died within 30 days of testing positive for COVID-19. And 765 cases of COVID were reported, up from 620 the previous week. The number of infections does not reflect the actual number of cases because PCR testing is limited in BC. and does not include home test results.

Advertising 3

This ad hasn’t loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Content of the article

Data from the BC Center for Disease Control shows those testing positive for COVID-19 in hospital increased in late June. The Fraser Health Authority, for example, recorded a low number of hospitalizations for COVID in early April, about 4.5 cases per 100,000 people. In late April, it nearly doubled to nearly 8.0 cases per 100,000 before the numbers fell below 4.0 by June 11. On June 30, that number rose to more than 6.0 per 100,000 and then increased by July 7 to 8.7, a nearly 50 percent increase, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The province’s other four health authorities showed similar peaks and valleys, with Vancouver Island at 5.6 cases per 100,000 as of June 30, Vancouver Coastal at 5.2, Interior at 3.0 and Northern B.C. in 2.3 cases. By July 7, those numbers had risen, most dramatically in Northern Health, nearly tripling to 5.9 per 100,000, to 6.2 for the Island, 6.5 for the Vancouver Coastal region, and 4.3 for the inside.

Advertising 4

This ad hasn’t loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Content of the article

UBC professor Sarah Otto, a member of BC’s independent COVID-19 modeling team, says BC needs more, faster booster shots, a return to some mask mandates and better data Vancouver Sun The BA.5 Omicron subvariant overtakes Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 as the predominant strain infecting people in BC, said UBC Professor Sarah Otto, a member of the independent COVID-19 modeling team at BC A computer model predicted that the Omicron BA.5 subvariable would be responsible for 70 percent of COVID cases and rising, while BA.4 was predicted to be 20 percent and falling, he said. BA.5 is spreading faster than BA.4 and “we can go ahead and call it the BA.5 wave,” he said. “We can definitely say it’s spreading faster (than previous variants).” BA.5 is more efficient and can get into our cells better, so you have to be exposed to the virus less to get infected, Otto said. In addition, BA.5 is better at hiding as a virus, hiding from our natural and vaccine-produced antibodies, whose job it is to attack and neutralize them.

Advertising 5

This ad hasn’t loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Content of the article

These antibodies naturally wear out over time. “They (viruses) hide better and we need more of these antibodies to attack them,” he said. “That’s why boosters matter, especially with Omicron.” Otto would like the boosters to be available to everyone every four months because they protect people from infection and also prevent the spread of COVID to more vulnerable people, such as elderly parents. Waiting for an updated version of the vaccine adapted to boost immunity against the Omicron variants makes no sense because the virus will have mutated by the time those vaccines reach BC, he said. “Let’s protect people from this wave,” he said. BC’s stockpile of 700,000 doses set to expire between now and the end of November could be used to immunize the next younger cohort of those between 60 and 69 and 70 and over who need them, he said. Otto also said that “we will be living with COVID for years and decades, and we need to learn what the current risks are.” The modeling team suggested the province provide daily COVID data that people could access, just as they can use a weather forecast or an air quality index to assess their own risk. And he said masks, which are no longer mandatory in public places, should be enforced on transport and public places people cannot avoid, such as grocery stores and pharmacies. With file by Cheryl Chan

Share this article on your social network

This ad hasn’t loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Vancouver Sun, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. By clicking the subscribe button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300

Thanks for subscribing!

A welcome email is on its way. If you don’t see it, check your spam folder. The next issue of Vancouver Sun Headline News will be in your inbox soon. We encountered a problem with your registration. PLEASE try again

Comments

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourages all readers to share their views on our articles.  Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site.  We ask that you keep your comments relevant and respectful.  We’ve enabled email notifications—you’ll now receive an email if you get a reply to your comment, there’s an update on a comment thread you’re following, or if someone follows the comments.  Visit the Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to customize your email settings.