COVID deaths rise in Interior while cases & hospitalizations fall

The Interior saw some fluctuations in COVID-19 data on a weekly basis.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control’s (BCCDC) latest report showed there were 10 deaths in the Interior between November 26 and December 2.

While the death figures were preliminary, they did mark an increase from the three confirmed in the region the week prior.

The report also showed 67 confirmed cases in the Interior, as well as 10 people in hospital with the virus, two of whom were in Intensive Care Units (ICU).

Those were down from the previous week’s figures of 113 cases, 19 hospitalizations and three patients admitted to ICU in the Interior.

The data from the BCCDC showed the Interior and the Vancouver Island Health authorities had the highest number of preliminary COVID deaths in the latest reporting week with 10 each, followed by six in Fraser Health.

The Interior had the second highest number of cases, between Fraser Health’s 113 and Vancouver Coastal Health’s 62 cases.

Local hospitalizations and critical care admissions were well below Fraser Health’s 49 and 11, respectively, which were the highest figures in the province.

B.C., as a whole, recorded 349 COVID-19 cases, 116 hospital admissions, including 19 into ICU, and 31 deaths linked to the virus between Nov. 26 and Dec. 2.

Cases, and both hospital and ICU admissions were down from the previous week’s figures of 382, 116 and 19, though deaths were up from the 23 the week prior.