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COVID cases continue to creep up on North Shore

Delta variant now makes up about one-third of cases in Vancouver Coastal Health and 74 % of cases in Interior
Jane Seyd
Jane Seyd

Numbers of COVID-19 cases on the North Shore have crept upwards again in the last week, despite being one of the most vaccinated communities in B.C.

There were 23 new COVID cases on the North Shore for the week of July 18 to 24, according to B.C.'s Centre for Disease Control. That compares to 15 new cases for the week before, and marks a month a slightly increasing numbers.

Of the cases reported in the past week, 13 were in North Vancouver and 10 were in West Vancouver.

While numbers remain low they are still higher than some other areas of the Lower Mainland, including Burnaby, the Tri-Cities and Langley, for instance.

By comparison, Surrey, once a COVID hotspot, had 36 cases last week.

Vaccination rates remain high on the North Shore, with 89 per cent of residents 12 and over in the District of North Vancouver having received at least one dose of vaccine.

Vaccination rates in West Vancouver are hovering between 82 and 85 per cent.

This week, outbreaks in B.C.’s Interior Health region pushed up the number of new COVID-19 cases in the province to 204 daily cases on June 29. That's the first time daily cases have been above 200 since June 5. Over half of those cases were in Interior Health. Just 23 of the daily cases were in Vancouver Coastal Health, which includes the North Shore.

The rising number of new cases prompted the government yesterday to mandate masks inside public spaces again in the Central Okanagan, and take other measures such as decreasing the waiting time between first and second doses of vaccine for those in that region. 

The Delta variant, first identified in India and considered more easily transmissible than other variants, is now the dominant strain of the virus in the province, according to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. The Delta variant now makes up about 74 per cent of cases in the Interior, and about one-third of cases in Vancouver Coastal Health, according to the B.C. CDC.

Currently North Shore residents can get a second dose of vaccine if it has been seven weeks since their first dose. Clinics are also opening their doors to more walk-in appointments, with next Wednesday, Aug. 4, dubbed “walk-in Wednesday.”