The British Columbia Center for Disease Control this week released its latest respiratory illness data for the year, showing a continued increase in flu and RSV transmission, while COVID-19 levels remain stable.
There were another 153 people hospitalized with COVID on Thursday, a low since that number was last reported two weeks ago.
The number of other people hospitalized in the 2023 BCCDC update is shown.
The number of new laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infections also dropped in the lacheck update; The positivity of controls remained unchanged, indicating that this decrease was due to a reduction in the number of government-funded controls.
According to the BCCDC, 358 new infections were recorded in the week of Dec. 10-16, up from 419 last week.
The percentage of tests that came back positive was 10.5 per cent during the most recent week, essentially unchanged from 10.4 per cent the week before.
Test positivity rates for influenza and RSV trended in opposite directions during the weeks in question. For the flu, 12.5 per cent of tests were positive between Dec. 10 and 16, down from 13.5 per cent from Dec. 3 through 9. For RSV, positivity rose from 8.5 per cent during the week that ended Dec. 9 to 9.5 per cent the following week.
For all three diseases, the BCCDC data includes only positive laboratory tests and is not an accurate reflection of the total number of people infected in a given week.
It should be noted that knowledge about COVID only reflects the burden of acute disease. The BCCDC does not publish any knowledge about long COVID, which has affected one in nine Canadian adults, or about 3. 5 million people, according to Statistics Canada, in its weekly updates.
To help provide a more detailed picture of respiratory disease transmission in British Columbia, researchers are also tracking virus concentrations at various wastewater treatment facilities across the province.
In the most recent update, the BCCDC reports that wastewater monitoring for influenza and RSV has shown expanding concentrations at peak plants.
Levels of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, are more stable.
The next BCCDC update on knowledge of respiratory diseases is scheduled for Jan. 4.
The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at CTV News. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop. Read about us.