COVID-19 in B.C.: 9 more deaths as hospitalization fall again

Nine more deaths have been attributed to COVID-19 in B.C. over the last 24 hours, the provincial Ministry of Health said Thursday.

Nine more deaths have been attributed to COVID-19 in B.C. over the last 24 hours, the provincial Ministry of Health said Thursday.

The latest deaths bring B.C.'s pandemic death toll to 2,840.

Hospitalizations continue to decline, with the ministry reporting 612 test-positive patients in hospital as of Thursday, a total that includes both those whose illness is serious enough to require hospitalization and those admitted to hospital for other conditions who test positive incidentally.

There are 102 people in intensive care units, according to the ministry.

The total number of people with COVID-19 in B.C. hospitals is the lowest it's been since the province switched last month to a "hospital census" model that does not attempt to exclude incidental cases. 

At that time, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said a study of hospitalized patients in Vancouver Coastal Health had found about 45 per cent of total COVID-19 hospitalizations fit in the "incidental" category.

Hospitalizations and intensive care admissions have been declining for weeks, as have confirmed cases, though B.C.'s limited testing criteria makes caseloads an unreliable measure of the severity of the pandemic.