Numbers clouding good news

New cases of COVID-19 continue to rise in B.C., particularly in the Lower Mainland.

A total of 634 cases - the highest oneday total since early January - were confirmed between Thursday and Friday.

Eighty-six percent of the new cases were in the Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health.

Concern over rising cases tempered provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry's enthusiasm for federal approval of another COVID-19 vaccine.

“Our days are brighter, but the number of new cases remains higher than where we want it to be,” Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said in a bulletin.

The federal government approved the Johnson & Johnson vaccine earlier Friday, which Henry said would accelerate the vaccination program.

On Monday, people over 90 who are living independently can begin making their vaccination appointments, as well as Indigenous people over 65.

This week in B.C., vaccinations of homeless people got underway in many cities, including Kelowna.

“This is a safe and effective way for them to protect themselves, so I’m excited about that,” Premier John Horgan said during a virtual press conference Friday.

“I want to reassure British Columbians that we have a plan to deal with vaccinations over the next number of months. I’m very, very hopeful that come summer we will have met our objectives, but I don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves,” the premier added.

“We are not out of the woods yet,” he said. “We have many, many miles to go. . . we’ll get back to normal as quickly as possible.”

Of the 634 new COVID-19 cases reported Friday, 33 were in the Interior Health region.