Skip to content
  1. Home
  2. Coronavirus (COVID-19) Local News

Here's a look at New West COVID-19 case counts, positivity rates

Newly released community-specific data shows New Westminster isn't the worst off in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, but it hasn't escaped unscathed
Julie MacLellan
Julie MacLellan

New Westminster’s COVID case counts and testing positivity rates have the city sitting in the middle of the pack for the Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley region.

Recently released maps and graphs from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control provide a long-awaited closer look at community-specific statistics regarding COVID-19. The data was released publicly May 12 as part of the BCCDC’s weekly update, in the wake of a controversy over leaked data last week.

Among the newly released information is a chart showing the average daily rate of new cases per 100,000 population for the week of May 4 to 10.

Surrey is well out ahead of all B.C. municipalities, with more than 35 new cases a day per 100,000 population. Abbotsford has more than 30, while Mission sits above 25. Delta and parts of Vancouver are in the next-highest zone, with between 15.1 and 20 cases per 100,000.

Burnaby sits on the 15 cases per 100,000 mark, just ahead of New Westminster, which lands at about 13 – higher than areas such as Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows, South Surrey/White Rock, the North Shore, the west side of Vancouver, and Agassiz/Harrison.

TESTING POSITIVITY RATES VARY

New Westminster likewise sits somewhere in the middle for seven-day testing positivity.

New Westminster’s test positivity sits at between 5.1 and 10%, the same as most of Burnaby, parts of Coquitlam, much of Richmond, and the southeastern part of Surrey. 

Neighbouring southeast Burnaby, recently named one of Fraser Health’s “high-transmission neighbourhoods,” falls into the 10.1 to 20% category, along with a large chunk of Surrey and most of Abbotsford and Mission. Parts of central and northern Surrey are in the hottest zone of all, with more than 20% positivity.

Some other areas of the region, including much of the Tri-Cities, Delta and Langley, are faring better than New Westminster, with positivity rates of 3.1 to 5%.

New Westminster is also sitting right on par with the rest of the region when it comes to vaccination. A map showing COVID-19 vaccination coverage rates says somewhere between 41 and 60% of the adults (18 and up) in the city have had their first dose as of May 10 – the same percentage as the vast majority of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.

Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
Email Julie, [email protected].