High vaccination rate, low COVID-19 cases point to further reopening in B.C.
VICTORIA — High COVID-19 vaccination rates and a dramatic drop in cases that hasn’t been seen since last August have set the stage for a further loosening of restrictions in British Columbia this week.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said 145 infections were diagnosed in the past three days, with 38 of them recorded between Sunday and Monday. Five more people died, for a total of 1,754 deaths.
“We now have a sustained low reproductive rate. That means that for most people who are infected, they are not passing this on to anybody,” she said Monday. “That’s how the pandemic will fizzle out over time, as we long as we continue to not have infectious contact, to do the things that we need to do to prevent transmission.”
Vaccination is preventing seven out of 10 cases in B.C., where nearly 77 per cent of residents aged 12 and over have received their first dose of a vaccine, though Henry urged more younger people to get immunized this summer as rates among that group are levelling off.