Vancouver Island adds 42 new COVID-19 cases; hundreds of Island Health care workers still unvaccinated

Victoria -

Health officials identified 42 new cases of COVID-19 in the Vancouver Island region Tuesday.

The new cases were among 338 new cases found across the province over the past 24 hours, the B.C. Health Ministry said in a statement.

There are now 3,568 active cases of COVID-19 in B.C., including 513 active cases in the Vancouver Island region.

Island Health data identified the locations of 430 active cases Tuesday, including 89 in the South Island, 237 in the Central Island and 104 in the North Island.

One more death from the disease was reported in B.C. on Tuesday. The victim died in the Fraser Health region.

Since the pandemic began, 2,274 people have died of COVID-19 in the province, including 115 deaths in the Island Health region.

There are currently 58 people in hospital with COVID-19 on Vancouver Island, including 13 people in critical care, according to the BC Centre for Disease Control.

As of Tuesday, 90.7 per cent of British Columbians aged 12 and older have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 86.8 per cent have received two doses.

Earlier Tuesday, B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said it was likely children aged 5 to 11 would be eligible for a vaccine shot by the end of the year.

UNVACCINATED HEALTH-CARE WORKERS

B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix and B.C.'s top doctor held a live news conference Tuesday afternoon to discuss the latest developments in the province's pandemic fight.

The health minister said 98 per cent of health-care workers in B.C. are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, in accordance with provincial health protocols.

Approximately 2,885 health workers in the province are not yet fully vaccinated. Among them are 426 employees with Island Health, Dix said, marking a higher number of unvaccinated health-care workers than in the Vancouver Coastal Health region (325) and Northern Health (289).

The health minister said 911 health-care workers in the Interior are still not fully vaccinated, and 534 are unvaccinated in the Fraser Health region. The remaining unvaccinated care providers are in the Provincial Health Services Authority and Providence Health Care, according to the health minister.