Due to the North’s vaccine rollout efforts, Northern Health has been able to resume some non-urgent scheduled surgeries at UHNBC.
“There has been extraordinary work in Northern Health, especially in the last couple of months by our doctors, nurses, health sciences professionals, health care workers, everyone in Northern Health,” said Health Minister Adrian Dix, “we should all be encouraged by this development.”
However, these results occurring in the North aren’t following through in the Lower Mainland, as case counts are putting a strain on many of their hospitals.
“As a result of the growing number of people with COVID-19 requiring care in hospital and the strain it is putting on our capacity, we have made the difficult decision to postpone scheduled non-urgent surgeries in nine Lower Mainland hospitals for the next two weeks,” added Dix.
Meanwhile, Provincial Health Officer, Dr.Bonnie Henry announced that tomorrow (Friday), the Solicitor General will be announcing new travel restrictions in the province.
Additionally, as of tomorrow everyone 18 and up in BC is eligible to register for a vaccine on the GetVaccinated website, while today (Thursday) everyone 25+ can book.
There are 8,733 active cases in BC, 502 individuals are currently hospitalized, 161 of whom are in ICU.
Northern Health active case counts continue to decline as there are now 219 in the region, while 22 people are in hospital, 9 of whom are in ICU.
“The latest variant-of-concern data will be provided on the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) website weekly,” explained Henry,” through our ongoing monitoring of the many variants in our province, we have identified 42 cases of the B.1.617 variant of interest.”
Henry adds this variant has shown to be more transmissible, similar to other VOCs, than those circulating earlier in the pandemic.
With nearly 1.6 million people now vaccinated in BC, Henry shared concerns about some misinformation on vaccines being spread.
“There is a lot of misinformation that has been circulating out there and I encourage people to talk to your healthcare provider and visit the BCCDC website where there is important updated information about vaccines and their risks,” she stated.
This comes as the province saw an additional 1,006 cases with 42 from Northern Health.
Across BC, 502 people are in the hospital while 161 of them are in ICU.
Four more people lost their battle to COVID-19 as BC’s death toll is now 1,550.
Northern Health: +42 (6,937)
Interior: +83 (10,365)
Vancouver Coastal: +241 (10,547)
Fraser: +600 (70,290)
Island: +37 (4,432)