Five people on the Sunshine Coast tested positive for COVID-19 between March 7 and 13, according to the latest data released by the BC Centre for Disease Control.
The week prior, six people tested positive with the virus, marking a slight uptick over February, when case counts hovered around one or two per week.
Powell River continues to report zero cases and Howe Sound cases jumped to 58 from 32. The area has seen higher cases due to spread of the virus in Whistler.
On Friday, March 19, 737 cases were reported provincewide over a 24-hour period, with 292 people hospitalized and two new deaths reported. Of those new cases, 68 are described as variants of concern.
The province’s immunization plan, meanwhile, has been accelerated.
“With the steady supply of three safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines in B.C., we are making meaningful strides in our provincewide pandemic response and immunization program,” said Health Minister Adrian Dix and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry in a March 18 joint statement.
As of March 19, 490,022 people have received at least their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccine.
Given the current trajectory, officials expect everyone who is eligible will have access to a dose of vaccine before Canada Day, which Dix and Henry said was “encouraging news for all of us.”
That acceleration is being felt on the Sunshine Coast, with March 20 as the date for when people aged 70 (born in 1951) and older can book an appointment for their shot at one of the three clinics in operation in Madeira Park, Sechelt and Gibsons.
Indigenous people born in 1966 or earlier will also be able to book at that time.
The booking phone number is: 1-877-587-5767 and the call centre is open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
