B.C. COVID-19 hospitalization data was 'incomplete,' has been updated, BCCDC says

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control reported 366 test-positive COVID-19 patients in hospital on Thursday, but the centre now says that total was incorrect, and should have been higher.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control reported 366 test-positive COVID-19 patients in hospital on Thursday, but the centre now says that total was incorrect, and should have been higher.

"The COVID-19 dashboard was mistakenly updated with incomplete data for the number of cases currently hospitalized in Vancouver Coastal Health on Aug. 18," a BCCDC spokesperson said in an email Friday evening.

The correction came after CTV News inquired about an unusual pattern in the data. While the overall hospital population had declined from 385 on Aug. 11 to 366 this week, hospitalizations had actually grown in three of the province's five regional health authorities.

Of the two health authorities that saw their hospital populations decline, Island Health showed a modest decrease, from 72 people in hospital with COVID-19 to 66.

Vancouver Coastal Health, meanwhile, had plummeted. The dashboard showed that health authority – which is home to nearly 400,000 more people than Island Health – also had only 66 COVID-19 patients in its hospitals. On Aug. 11, it had 111.

The purported 45-patient drop meant Vancouver Coastal Health single-handedly accounted for the entire province-wide decline in hospitalizations during the week.

The data on the dashboard has since been corrected. It now shows 390 people in B.C. hospitals with COVID-19 this week, and Vancouver Coastal Health's share of the total has been revised to 90.