Thought of the Day - July 6 2021 - BC, Close but No Cigar

The headlines are reading that we had only 20 new cases on Sunday in BC, the lowest since July 2020. So does that mean we are now back to July 2020 figures? Nope, we still have a way to go yet.

Latest figures given yesterday (July 5 2021):

• Total number of active cases: 652

• New cases in last three days: 87

• New deaths in last three days: 3

• Hospitalized cases: 85

• Intensive care: 22

• Long-term care and assisted-living homes, and acute care facilities currently affected: 4

Latest figures given a year ago (July 6 2020):

• Total number of active cases: 166

• New cases in last three days: 31

• New deaths in last three days: 0

• Hospitalized cases: 16

• Intensive care: 4

• Long-term care and assisted-living homes, and acute care facilities currently affected: 4

At present we have almost three times the amount of new cases and four times the number of active cases. Moreover, we have five times as many people in the hospital and in intensive care - so it is not yet true that people infected have more mild effects than in the past. The good news, if you can call it that, is we still have the same number of care-homes affected.

In short, we now have similar figures to the end of April last year when the first wave was starting to subside.

The good news is the trend continues to be in the right direction, the lower new cases versus active cases versus hospitalizations means things are still improving.

As witnessed by Bonnie Henry and Adrian Dix's announcement last week, they are stepping away from daily briefings, the new normal has arrived "Living with COVID-19".

Cheers

Cliff