COVID-19 test positivity rates remain extremely high around Metro Vancouver, including New Westminster – but those rates may be starting a slow decline.
The latest B.C. Centre for Disease Control data shows test positivity between Feb. 1 and 7 at 37% in New West. That's down from 41% last week and 46% the week before that.
Several local health areas around the region remain at 40% or higher. On the flip side, there are now two local health areas where rates have come down to the 20% mark: North Langley, at 19%, and the Downtown Eastside, at 20%.
New Westminster's official case count is also continuing to drop, showing 106 cases between Feb. 1 and 7, for a daily rate of 18 per 100,000 people.
That number is not reflective of the actual number of COVID-19 cases in the city, since the vast majority of people are no longer eligible for testing.
What may provide a glimmer of hope, however, is the trend line; this is the lowest number of cases since B.C. started significantly restricting access for testing. The past four weeks have seen a declining trend – 303, 206, 214 and 155 – among the narrow band of people who are, in fact, eligible for COVID tests.
According to Fraser Health, testing is recommended for people who have symptoms associated with COVID-19 infection and meet one of the following criteria:
- people for whom testing is clinically indicated (people who are pregnant, hospitalized or moderately to severely immunocompromised)
- people 60 years of age and older who are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated
- people 18 years of age and older who are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated and are clinically extremely vulnerable
- individuals who self-identify as Indigenous
- individuals who live or work in high-risk settings
More details and links for test booking can be found at the Fraser Health website.
Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
Email Julie, [email protected].
