covid-19 in b.c.: monthly report shows dropping hospitalizations, but a spike in deaths
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the monthly covid-19 data report from the b.c. centre for disease control (bccdc) shows most key measures on a steady decline, but there was a notable spike in the number of deaths mid-may among people who had recently tested positive for the virus.
in the report released june 1 covering data through the month of may, there was a steady decline in the number of hospitalizations, with 181 hospital admissions in the first week of may compared with 103 in the final week. admissions to critical care also dropped, from 35 in the week ending may 6 to 13 in the week ending may 27.
but reported deaths jumped mid-month before dropping at the end, with weekly totals of 47 and 50 deaths in the weeks ending may 13 and 20, respectively, but only 11 deaths in the final week.
that isn’t to say that all, or even most, of those deaths were directly due to covid-19 infection. the underlying cause of death, which can take up to eight weeks to determine, has consistently been something other than the virus in slightly over half of deaths in b.c. among those who had a lab-confirmed covid infection within 30 days of dying.
reported cases of covid-19 dropped week by week through the month of may, too. but the number of specimens tested has been dropping from a peak of nearly 6,000 tests per week at the start of 2023 to around 2,000 tests per week in late may. that means reported cases isn’t a reliable indicator of how much virus is circulating in b.c.
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the next monthly report from the bccdc is expected on july 6.
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