B.C. COVID-19 data shows mixed signals as hospital population declines

A sign at the entrance to Surrey Memorial Hospital is seen on Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022. (CTV)

The number of people with COVID-19 in B.C. hospitals fell again this week, with the B.C. Centre for Disease Control reporting 328 test-positive patients in hospitals around the province Thursday.

That's down from 397 at this time last week, and down from a 2023 high of 422 at the start of this month.

The hospitalized population remains on the high side relative to where it has been for most of the year, however, and the broader respiratory illness season is just beginning.

Notably, not all test-positive patients reported in hospital by the BCCDC each week are there because of COVID-19. Health officials estimate that roughly 40 per cent of reported COVID hospitalizations are caused by the coronavirus, while the rest are "incidental" hospitalizations, meaning the patient was admitted to hospital for some other reason and tested positive after admission.

Still, the trend in hospitalization totals – along with other data reported by the BCCDC – provides a snapshot of COVID-19 transmission in the province.

This week, the data is mixed.

Like the hospitalized population, the number of new infections reported Thursday trended downward. The BCCDC reported 734 new positive tests during the week of Oct. 8 to 14. That's a decrease from the 818 reported for the previous period.

Similarly, the test positivity rate declined during the week ending Oct. 14, dropping from 20.2 per cent to 19.2 per cent.

B.C.'s testing for COVID-19 is extremely limited, however, and while downward trends in lab-confirmed cases and test positivity are undoubtedly a good sign, they don't necessarily reflect the broader trend in COVID-19 transmission in the province.

To help get a sense of that broader trend, the BCCDC monitors a dozen wastewater treatment plants across the province, which handle wastewater from almost two-thirds of the provincial population.

That data was also updated Thursday, and it continues to show increasing concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – in most locations.

All five treatment plants in Metro Vancouver saw virus concentrations increase.

Across the province, only the data from Nanaimo showed a measurable decreasing trend in recent weeks.