Island Health sees 372 new cases, 12 deaths in weekly COVID-19 update

COVID-19 hospitalizations are rising across BC, including on Vancouver Island.

Currently, BC’s COVID-19 Dashboard shows 570 people in hospital with the virus, an increase from the 485 reported last week.

Across the province, 47 people are in critical care, with 76 in hospital on the island.

The BC Centre for Disease Control has released its weekly COVID-19 update, reporting 2,276 new cases of COVID-19, including 372 in Island Health, bumping the island’s total case count to 34,506 since the pandemic began.

The report released Thursday shows that between April 17th to 23rd, BC saw 12 new deaths in the Island Health region and 42 province-wide.

The 12 additional deaths increased the region’s overall COVID-19 death toll to 279, but health officials say the number of deaths and hospitalizations is subject to change.

They also note adjustments have been made to how these deaths are reported.

All deaths within 30 days of a person’s positive COVID-19 lab result are now reported, regardless of whether COVID-19 was the actual cause of death.

“All-cause mortality is being used because cause of death takes approximately eight weeks to be recorded,” the BCCDC said.

“Retrospective evaluations of underlying cause of death will be done by the BCCDC, in addition to the data provided in this report, to better understand true COVID-19 mortality.”

SEE ALSO: Here’s what you can expect when BC switches to weekly COVID-19 updates

BC scrapped its daily COVID-19 reports on new cases, hospitalizations and deaths earlier this month. 

According to the Ministry of Health, the new weekly reporting approach aligns with a shift away from a ‘case-management’ model to a ‘surveillance’ approach.

Officials say the approach focuses on identifying changes in COVID-19 trends over time across different regions of the province, similar to how the government monitors for other serious respiratory illnesses.