Lions Gate Hospital outbreak declared over as North Shore COVID cases soar

There’s good news and there’s bad news on the COVID front on the North Shore.

The good news is a COVID-19 outbreak at Lions Gate Hospital declared Dec. 16 has been declared over. The outbreak – which led to 15 hospitalized patients and staff becoming infected with COVID – was declared over Jan. 4.

The bad news is it comes at a time when the North Shore is recording more COVID cases than ever before, fuelled by the Omicron variant.

For the week between Dec. 28 and Jan. 3, the North Shore hit another new record of 904 confirmed cases of the virus.

But the numbers come with a major caveat – only limited numbers of people – including those with underlying health conditions and those over 65 years old – have been able to receive the official PCR tests. Among those who did access those tests, positivity rates on the North Shore ranged from 36 per cent on Bowen Island to 49 per cent in the upper part of West Vancouver.

Vancouver Coastal Health has advised those who are fully vaccinated and have mild symptoms do not need to get tested.

But even those who have been able to get rapid tests through official testing sites are not being counted in the official numbers.

Of the cases which have been reported, North Vancouver recorded 679 new COVID cases, for an infection rate of 63 daily cases per 100,000. West Vancouver recorded 225 new cases, for a rate of 61 per 100,000.

Omicron’s surge resulted in 3,798 new daily cases being reported in British Columbia on Wednesday (Jan. 5), bringing the number of active cases to just under 30,000.

Dr. Bonnie Henry, the province’s health officer, has acknowledged, however, that the actual number of cases is likely three or four times the official number.

"The rate of transmission that we're seeing now in British Columbia, like many other jurisdictions around the world, means that at this point, most people in B.C., likely have a friend or family member, or a colleague, who has been infected with the Omicron variant," she said on Tuesday. "Right now, in the tug of war of transmission. Omicron has the advantage."

There were 317 people in hospital with COVID on Wednesday, 83 of those in intensive care.

Although hospital numbers have increased in recent days, so far doctors are reporting most of those hospitalized with Omicron have milder infections than people who landed in hospital with previous versions of the virus.

More people are also vaccinated against the virus, which has resulted in less severe illnesses.

On the North Shore, between 41 and 48 percent of adults over 50 have now received their third booster shot of vaccine according to BC’s Centre for Disease Control. Between 24 and 31 per cent of adults over 18 have been boosted.

B.C. recently announced it will be ramping up its booster shot program this month.

Among children five to 11 years old, the last group to be approved for vaccines, 65 per cent of kids in North Vancouver and 54 per cent of kids in West Vancouver have received a first shot of vaccine.