who is ready for some saturday night charts to make you feel mildly more optimistic about the pandemic but still in a state of general concern and anxiety

There were a couple of encouraging pieces of news in Friday's situation report from the BC Centre for Disease Control if you compare to the past.

One is the the number of cases and deaths in long-term care homes.

Weekly cases (198) were at their lowest level in 2.5 months.

If we take a look at the ages of cases as well, you'll see that everything has been on a downward trend.

But weekly cases in people 70 and older are down the most — by half from its peak in late November.

These reductions are happening before the effects of vaccination in long-term care homes *should* start to see tangible effects.

Meaning, hopefully, these trends will accelerate (the surge in the Interior/North/Central Vancouver Island still a big question mark)

In the past four months, people under active monitoring has shown to be a pretty good monitor for where case counts are going.

At 6,719, it's now at the lowest level since November 3, and down 44% from its peak on Dec. 11.

The gains B.C. seems to be seeing in reducing cases in the elderly is mitigated by general transmission in the Interior and North, which is why the overall trendline has stalled out a bit.

But in terms of signs of seeing deaths go down further, the news is relatively positive.

charts over, feel free to go back to your regularly scheduled saturday night of netflix and low-lying fear