Active COVID-19 cases in Delta climbed back into double digits last week.
The latest weekly map released by the BC Centre for Disease Control showing the geographic distribution of COVID-19 cases by local health area (LHA) of residence shows Delta had 10 cases for the week of June 27 to July 3, up four from the week before.
Previously, Delta’s case total had been falling for 10 of the last 11 weeks, only adding 28 cases the week ending May 1. Previous to that, the numbers had been climbing for 10 straight weeks before hitting a record high of 262 the week ending April 10.
The six cases for the week ending June 26 marked the fewest active COVID-19 cases in Delta since health officials began releasing city-level data in December.
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The overall number of active cases in the Fraser Health region decreased for the eleventh straight week to 110, down 102 from the week previous and the lowest total since the BC CDC began releasing the weekly LHA maps.
Nine of the 13 local health areas in the Fraser Health region saw decreases from the previous week, most notably in the former hot spot of Surrey (28, down 36 from the week previous) and in Chilliwack (five, down 25 from the week previous). Burnaby held steady at 11 cases, the same as the week before, while Agassiz-Harrison had no active cases at all.
Aside from Delta, the other LHAs that saw increases were Hope (six, up four from the week before) and South Surrey/White Rock, which gained five new active cases following two weeks in a row without any active cases.
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Data shared on the BC CDC’s COVID-19 Surveillance Dashboard Tuesday shows Delta had nine cases for the week of June 28 to July 4, for an overall daily average of one new case per 100,000 people, unchanged from the week before.
Broken down by community health service areas (CHSAs), that’s two case per 100,000 people in North Delta (up from one), none in Ladner (consistent with the previous three weeks) and one in Tsawwassen (up from zero the previous week). The CHSA of Tsawwassen is comprised of both the Delta community and the Tsawwassen First Nation.
Delta’s total case count represented four per cent of all cases reported in B.C. that week, up from two per cent the week before. Delta is home to two per cent of the province’s population.
The overall test positivity rate in Delta for the week of June 28 to July 4 was one per cent, unchanged from the week before, but the rates varied slightly between Delta’s three CHSAs.
North Delta still had the highest rate (two per cent, unchanged from the week before), while Ladner and Tsawwassen each had one per cent (unchanged for Ladner, but a one per cent increase for Tsawwassen).
Positivity rates were similar same when looking only at public tests — two per cent for North Delta, one per cent for Ladner (both unchanged from the week before) and one per cent for Tsawwassen (up from zero the week before), making for an overall rate of two per cent (up from one).
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The dashboard also shows breakdowns of vaccine coverage across the CHSAs by age: 12+, 18+, 18-49 and 50+.
As of July 5, Delta leads all other LHAs in Fraser Health with 85 per cent of adults aged 12 and over having received at least their first does of vaccine, up one per cent from the week before. Broken down by CHSA, that is 85 per cent in North Delta (up from 83 the week before), 87 per cent in Ladner (up from 86) and 86 per cent in Tsawwassen (up from 85).
Limited to adults 18 and over, those rates are 86 per cent for Delta as a whole, 84 for North Delta, 88 for Ladner and 86 for Tsawwassen. However, vaccine uptake is markedly different between those 18-49 and those 50 and over.
For adults 50 and over, vaccine coverage held steady in North Delta, Tsawwassen and for Delta as a whole compared to the week previous (89, 90 and 90 per cent, respectively), and increased slightly in Ladner (92 per cent, up from 91).
For those aged 18-49 (a category only made available via the dashboard for the past two weeks), vaccine coverage was markedly lower — 81 per cent for Delta overall (up from 80), 81 for North Delta (up from 80), 82 for Ladner (unchanged from the week before) and 80 for Tsawwassen (up from 79).
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On July 2, the BC CDC posted an updated map showing total cumulative cases by local health area through to the end of June. The map shows there were a total of 4,907 COVID-19 cases in Delta through to June 30, meaning there were only 92 new cases last month, compared to 488 in May, 990 in April and 614 in March.
The map also shows there were 529 new cases in Surrey, compared to 4,012 in May, 7,043 in April and 4,406 in March, and 1,636 new cases across the Fraser Health region, compared to 8,913 in May, 17,086 in April and 10,554 in March. Vancouver Coastal Health, meanwhile, had 563 new cases in June, compared to 2,833 in May, 7,497 in April and 5,726 in March.
As of Monday (July 5), there were no outbreaks at any Delta long-term care, assisted living or independent living facilities, no public exposure notifications, and no Delta businesses had been temporarily closed due to COVID-19 spread among workers.
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced April 8 that workplaces with three or more people who have COVID-19 and likely transmission in the workplace will be ordered to close, unless it is in the overriding public interest to keep it open. The closure generally last for 10 days unless otherwise determined by health officials.
Meanwhile, Fraser Health’s website listed no exposures at any Delta schools.
Fraser Health defines exposure as “a single person with lab-confirmed COVID-19 infection who attended school during their infectious period.” Two or more individuals is defined as a cluster, while an outbreak describes a situation involving “multiple individuals with lab-confirmed COVID-19 infections when transmission is likely widespread within the school setting.”
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