Fully vaccinated seniors made up nearly half of all COVID-19 deaths in B.C. during the month of October.
That is according to new modelling data presented by Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, Thursday. The data showed that 82 fully vaccinated British Columbians died in October while another 89 were unvaccinated, with eight partially vaccinated.
A majority of those dying were over the age of 80 with 47 of the 82 deaths among vaccinated people last month in that age group. As for those unvaccinated group, 23 of the 89 deaths were people over 80.
“As we get older, our response to vaccination is not as strong,” Henry said. “It is the people around our elders and seniors who also need to be protected though vaccination because if they get infected, their risk of having more severe illness is that much higher and that leads to people ending up in hospital and sadly to people dying.”
It is why Henry is again pleading with people to keep up with precautions through the flu season, including wearing a mask, physical distancing, washing their hands and avoiding being around people who are not vaccinated.
During a COVID-19 briefing Thursday, there was some good news from Dr. Henry as she said the modelling suggests that there could be a steady decline in COVID-19 cases this month.
The reproductive number is at or below “one” in all regions of the province, meaning each new confirmed infection is spreading, on average, to just one other person, or fewer. Without vaccines though, Henry says it would have been 3.43 – which translates to about eight thousand new cases a day.
“We still continue to have challenges across the North,” she said. “On a positive note, we are seeing cases come down quite dramatically in Interior Health which is great news and it is remaining low, particularly in those areas of the province where our vaccination rates have provided that buffer where the virus can’t spread as easily.”
The data from Dr. Henry comes as B.C. reported 596 new cases of the virus and eight more deaths.
There were 115 new cases in Interior Health with 666 active cases. Elsewhere in B.C, there were 222 new cases and three deaths in Fraser Health (1,927 active), 159 new cases and three deaths in Northern Health (616 active), 54 new cases in Island Health (618 active), and 46 new cases and two deaths in Vancouver Coastal Health (565 active).
No new cases were reported in people who live outside of Canada with 59 such cases active. The COVID-19 death toll is up to 2,200 people.
Data from the province shows there are 438 contagious people in hospital with COVID-19 across B.C., 130 of those in ICU.
On a vaccine front, there are now 90.1 per cent of people over the age of 12 (4,176,649) who have at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, while 85.6 per cent (3,968,494) are fully vaccinated. That is an increase of 2,510 first doses and 5,456 second doses when compared to Wednesday’s update.
Between Oct. 27 and Nov. 2, people not fully vaccinated accounted for 64.5 per cent of cases while from Oct. 20 to Nov. 2, they accounted for 71.8 per cent of hospitalizations.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said Thursday that people not vaccinated are “50 times” more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19.
“The only thing I can say to people is: It’s time. Get vaccinated to support everyone else who needs public health care your friends, family and community,” he said.