COVID-19 cases among kids in B.C. saw highest rise among those 5 to 11 but are declining, health officials say

Children aged five to 11 in BritishColumbia had been contracting COVID-19 at higher rates compared withkids in other age groups, but an uptick in vaccination rates hashelped reduce those numbers, health officials said Thursday.

The province says 550 cases were diagnosed between Oct. 26 and Nov. 1 from 14,295 total casesin that age group since the pandemic began.

One of those children went to hospital this week, and between Oct. 26 and Nov., one received critical care, health officials said, as they presented their latest epidemiologicalmodelling during a live news conference.

A total of 56children aged five and 11have been admitted to hospital with COVID-19 in B.C. since the pandemic began and four of them required critical care.

The province says cases among kids aged nine to 11 rose the most a few weeks after the start of the school year.

However, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said there have been no hospitalizations in fully vaccinated youth aged 12 to 17 since July.

"[The vaccine]is working extremely well. We've had very few cases and we've had no hospitalizations. That's important for us to think about as vaccines are now becoming available for the younger age group as well," she said.

Overall, cases rose the most in the Interior region between August and late September before declining, whilethe Northern Health region had a higher number of cases, she said.

Hospitalizations remain 'stubbornly high'

While more than 90 per cent of those 12 and older have received at least one shot of a vaccine, Henry said hospitalization rates have remained "stubbornly high."

Not only is the delta variant more contagious, she said, it iscausing more severe illness, especially inyounger people who are not vaccinated.

Unvaccinated people are 10times more likely to get the virus, and 46 times more likely to die from it,she said.

"If we compare, for example, our cases and hospitalizations in peoplewho are unvaccinated versus fully vaccinated, the difference is stark. This really is driven by the number of people who are becoming infected, who have not yet been vaccinated."

The provinceannounced mandatory vaccinations last monthfor B.C.'s 30,000public service workers. Employees who have not receivedat least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by Nov. 22 will be placed on unpaid leave for three months, B.C. health officials said.

More than 3,300 workers in the province's health-care sector are already onunpaid leave because they were not immunized by theOct. 26deadline for mandatory vaccination for these workers.

Reproductive number of virus drops under 1

Meanwhile, Dr. Henry said the reproductive number of the COVID-19 virus has dropped below one in all regions for the first time in several months.

This means,on average, each new infection is spreading to fewer than one person, which suggests the decline in cases shouldcontinue.

"That's good news but it's just below one, which means that we have, right now, a fragile balance. We are going down slowly," Dr. Henry said.

"It is important for us to recognize that the things we're doing to prevent transmission ...these are all the things that are making a difference right now."