B.C.'s attempts to control the spread of COVID-19 appear to be paying off.
The province revealed June 9 that it is aware of only 1,975 people who are actively battling COVID-19 infections. That is the lowest total since October 22.
Helping control the spread is the ever-rising proportion of the population that has had at least one dose of a vaccine.
Provincial health officer Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix, on June 9, said 74.5% of all adults in B.C., and 72.4% of those 12 years old and older have had at least one dose.
That translates into a total of 3,749,758 doses provided to 3,359,494 people, with 390,264 of those individuals now being fully vaccinated with two doses. In the past 24 hours, health officials provided 19,662 first doses of vaccine to people, as well as 44,756 second doses. The number of those getting needed second doses of a vaccine exceeded those getting initial doses for the the first time yesterday.
Also helping reduce the number of people actively fighting infections is a consistently low number of new infections being detected. In the past 24 hours, health officials discovered 148 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 145,843. More than 97.4% of those, or 142,106 people, are deemed by the province to have recovered because they are not considered to be infectious.
While the number of those in B.C. hospitals declined overnight by eight, to 195, the number of those in hospitals' intensive care units (ICU) shrunk by 10 overnight, to 47. The last time there were fewer people with COVID-19 in B.C. ICUs was on November 12.
Sadly, three more people died while infected with COVID-19 overnight, raising the province's death toll from the pandemic to 1,725.
"Canada has some of the highest Dose 1 immunization levels in the world and British Columbia is equally strong," Henry and Dix said in a joint statement. "Clinics are operating at high capacity, welcoming thousands of people every day. Health authorities are also taking vaccines out into communities to further accelerate immunizations – whether through mobile clinics or other efforts."
The Fraser Health region remains the province's hot spot for new cases, although the province's most populous health region is no longer responsible for the majority of new cases.
By health region, the 148 infections discovered in the past day includes:
• 23 in Vancouver Coastal Health (15.6%);
• 75 in Fraser Health (50.7%);
• 10 in Island Health (6.8%);
• 32 in Interior Health (21.6%); and
• eight in Northern Health (5.4%).
There remain five active outbreaks at seniors' homes. They are:
• Cherington Place in Surrey;
• Glenwood Seniors' Community in Agassiz;
• Heritage Manor in Fort St. John;
• Richmond Lions Manor-Bridgeport in Richmond; and
• Spring Valley Care Centre in Kelowna.
The two active outbreaks at B.C. hospitals are at Richmond Hospital and at Kelowna General Hospital.
