COVID-19 claims 13 more lives as B.C. reports 3 fewer people in hospital but 9 more in the ICU

B.C. health officials reported985people in hospital with COVID-19 onThursday, including 145in intensive care,as the province recorded 13more deaths from the disease and 1,518 new cases.

The new numbers represent a decrease of threeCOVID-19 patients hospitalized within the last 24 hours, but nine morepatients in the ICU.

Overall hospitalizations, which typically lag behind spikes and dips in new cases, are up slightly (less than oneper cent) from last Thursday, when 977people were in hospital with the disease.

Due to a data reporting change introducedJan. 14, month-to-monthhospitalization comparisons won't be available again until Feb. 14.

The number of patients in intensive care has risen by about threeper cent from 141 a week ago butis up68 per cent from a month ago when 86people were in the ICU.

Experts say hospitalizations area more accurate barometer of the disease's impact,as new case numbersin B.C. arelikely much higherthan reported, now that the province has hitits testing limit because of the Omicron surge.

As of Thursday, the seven-day average for case positivity is 20.5 per cent, according to the province's COVID-19 dashboard.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has said thatanything above a five per cent test-positivity rateindicates a concerning level of community transmission.

There are currently 25,554 recorded active cases of people infected with the novel coronavirus in B.C.

The provincialdeath toll from COVID-19is now 2,656lives lost out of 329,143confirmed cases to date.

There area total of 56active outbreaks in assisted living, long-term, and acute care facilities.

Acute care outbreaksinclude:

• Langley Memorial Hospital.
• Victoria General Hospital.
• Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.
• Cowichan District Hospital.
• Kelowna General Hospital.

As of Thursday,90 per cent of those five and older in B.C. hadreceived their first dose of aCOVID-19 vaccineand 84.2 per cent asecond dose.

From Jan. 25 to Feb. 1, people who were not fully vaccinated accounted for 25.2 per cent of cases and from Jan. 19 to Feb. 1,they accounted for 31.1 per cent of hospitalizations, according to the province.

A total of 2.2 million people have received a booster shot to date.

Number of people in hospital hitting 'peak'

Health officials say B.C. appears to have reached peak numbers of COVID-19 patients in hospital.

Henrypresented new numbers at a news conference on Tuesday, saying that while the highly transmissible Omicron variant has caused hospitalizations to soar above record levels, the data confirms it'scausing less serious illness than the previously dominant Delta variant.

Thenumber of people in hospital with COVID-19 in B.C. surpassed 1,000 for the first timeonMonday but has since dropped below that mark.