B.C. loses another 15 lives to COVID

Another 564 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in B.C. and 15 more people have died from the respiratory disease, provincial health officials said on Thursday.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a joint statement that despite the number of cases trending downward, the province is continuing to experience new community outbreaks and clusters. “COVID-19 continues to spread widely in our communities,” the statement said.

There are 4,450 active cases of COVID -19 in the province and 309 people being treated in hospital, including 68 in intensive care.

There have been a total of 62,976 cases in British Columbia and the provincial death toll from the pandemic has reached 1,119.

There was some good news on Thursday as outbreaks at five health care facilities — Vancouver General Hospital, Ridge Meadows Hospital, Hart House, Fleetwood Villa, Arbutus Care Centre and Renfrew Care Centre — were declared over and no new health care outbreaks were declared.

A total of 104,901 people have been vaccinated as part of the province's COVID-19 immunization program, including 1,680 people who have received their second “booster” shot.

The Ministry of Health has said it hopes to have all staff and residents at long-term health care facilities vaccinated by the end of the month as part of the first phase of its immunization rollout.

On Thursday, a poll conducted by Insights West suggested a majority of B.C. residents believe the provincial government is doing a less-than-stellar job with its immunization program

Asked to rate B.C.'s vaccination rollout, just 35 per cent of respondents gave the government a passing grade, with 30 per cent rating the plan as “good” and five per cent as “excellent.” Thirty-one per cent rated the government's efforts as “fair,” while 14 per cent judged it “poor” and seven per cent rated it “very poor.” A further 13 per cent were unsure.

While British Columbians may not be thrilled with how the vaccine is being delivered, the vast majority (80 per cent) are ready to roll up their sleeves for the shot.

The Insights West poll was conducted online from Jan. 13-18 among a sample of 824 B.C. residents. It carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.