The province is seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases, as well as hospital and intensive care admissions, B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said Thursday.
For the week April 17-23, 2,276 new COVID cases were reported, 355 people were hospitalized, and there were 42 deaths, according to the latest statistics from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. Dix said up to 48 people were in intensive care on Thursday.
In the same time period, there were 372 new cases and 62 COVID-19 hospital admissions in Island Health. Of the 42 deaths in five health authorities in the province — all people who were within 30 days of a positive COVID-19 lab result — 12 were in Island Health.
“We’re seeing an increase in hospitalization consistent with what the modelling suggested might happen in this period,” Dix said.
As COVID-19 cases increase and staffing shortages persist, south Island hospitals are struggling with capacity.
On Thursday, there were 9,322 patients in B.C. hospitals, 9,229 in base beds and 2,353 in surge beds, Dix said. There were 450 people in critical care.
“What we see in the hospitalization numbers is that there’s a significant amount of COVID-19 out there,” said Dix.
On Tuesday, the independent B.C. COVID-19 Modelling Group said the Omicron BA.2 subvariant wave does not appear to have peaked in the province, but it could be smaller than the first wave, based on growing immunity in the population.
“The Omicron sub-variant BA.2 continues to rise in frequency among viral samples taken across Canada,” the group said. “Although no new genomic data is available for B.C., it is likely that the BA.2 frequency is well over 80 per cent in B.C.”
The modelling group is comprised of experts in epidemiology, mathematics, and data analysis from University of B.C., Simon Fraser University, the University of Victoria and the private sector.
ceharnett@timescolonist.com
