Vancouver, August 20: The B.C. Centre for Disease Control reported 366 test-positive COVID-19 patients in the hospital on Thursday, but the centre now says that total was incorrect, and should have been higher.
“The COVID-19 dashboard was mistakenly updated with incomplete data for the number of cases currently hospitalized in Vancouver Coastal Health on Aug. 18,” a BCCDC spokesperson said in an email Friday evening.
Of the two health authorities that saw their hospital populations decline, Island Health showed a modest decrease, from 72 people in hospital with COVID-19 to 66.
Vancouver Coastal Health, meanwhile, had plummeted. The dashboard showed that health authority – which is home to nearly 400,000 more people than Island Health – also had only 66 COVID-19 patients in its hospitals. On Aug. 11, it had 111.
The purported 45-patient drop meant Vancouver Coastal Health single-handedly accounted for the entire province-wide decline in hospitalizations during the week.
The data on the dashboard has since been corrected. It now shows 390 people in B.C. hospitals with COVID-19 this week, and Vancouver Coastal Health’s share of the total has been revised to 90.
The BCCDC apologized for any confusion created by the error.
As mentioned, the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals in Fraser Health, Interior Health and Northern Health all increased this week, with Interior Health hitting its highest total since May.
The number of coronavirus patients in B.C. hospitals reported each week includes both those who have serious cases of COVID-19 and those who are admitted to hospital for other reasons and test positive incidentally.
