Judging from declining case counts and climbing vaccination rates, it looks like B.C. has the upper hand on COVID-19.
But the fight isn’t over yet, especially since it takes two to three weeks to build immunity after getting your first dose of a vaccine.
That’s why provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, is urging everyone to continue to follow health measures, even with over 70.4 percent of all adults and 67 percent of those 12 and older having now received their first dose.
In total, 3,303,334 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in B.C., 191,222 of which are second doses.
She’s also promising that it won’t be long before many of us get our second shot.
“We booked appointments for half a million people for second doses in the next few weeks, so yes, there is a broad group of people… everybody’s timeline now to (their) second dose will be compressed, and everybody will get their second dose in the coming months,” Dr. Henry said.
In today’s update, the province reported 184 new cases, including just one on Vancouver Island.
There were also 48 cases in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, which includes Powell River and the Sunshine Coast.
There are currently 2,800 active cases in the province.
A further 139,899 people who tested positive have recovered.
Of the active cases, 254 individuals are currently hospitalized, 80 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people with COVID-19 are recovering at home in self-isolation.
There have been no new COVID-19 related deaths, keeping the death toll at 1,703 deaths in B.C.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has required us to do things we have perhaps never done before to protect ourselves, our loved ones and our communities. We have learned, adapted and worked hard to keep each other safe,” Dr. Henry said today in a statement.
“We began by adding the layers of protection into our daily lives – wearing masks, staying home when ill and getting tested when we have symptoms. We are now taking the next important steps of getting our first and second vaccine doses.
“The more people who are fully vaccinated, the less risk there is that the virus can spread in our communities, and the more quickly we’ll be able to confidently put the COVID-19 pandemic behind us. Let’s keep moving forward.”
