COVID-19 hospitalizations continued to mount in B.C. on Friday, as the province confirmed 3,144 new cases and another nine deaths.
The update left B.C. with at least 33,184 active cases provincewide, though the province has acknowledged that with testing at its capacity, confirmed case numbers no longer reflect the true picture of the virus’s spread.
Hospitalizations jumped by 25 on Friday for a total of 349, while the number of people in critical or intensive care climbed by three to 93.
There were new outbreaks at the Surrey Memorial Hospital and Peace Arch Hospital Foundation Lodge, leaving the province with 38 active outbreaks in health-care facilities.
Earlier Friday, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the province was currently reviewing the way it counts COVID-19 hospitalizations, as it tries to better understand the impact of the Omicron variant versus the Delta variant.
The current measure is a “composite” of two metrics, she said. One metric counts all positive cases in hospital, regardless of their reason for admission, while a second, slower metric tracks people who test positive and require hospitalization over the course of their illness.
“We’re trying to tease apart people who are in hospital from COVID, people who are in hospital with COVID, and people who are in hospital because COVID exacerbated one of their underlying conditions, and it’s not easy to do that.”
On Thursday, the independent B.C. COVID-19 Modelling Group warned that the province could see hospitalizations surge to levels yet unseen in the pandemic, with between 2,000 and 10,000 hospitalized cases by the end of the month.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said as of Friday, just over 95 per cent of B.C.’s 9,229 base hospital beds system-wide were occupied, while just over 25 per cent of B.C.’s 2,353 surge beds were full.
In intensive care units, he said 89 per cent of B.C.’s base critical care beds provincewide were full, while about 10 per cent of surge critical care beds were full.
Of the new cases, 1,416 were in the Fraser Health region, 483 were in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, 526 were in the Interior Health region, 244 were in the Northern Health region and 475 were in the Island Health region.
More than 4.4 million British Columbians, 88.5 per cent of those eligible and 85.6 per cent of B.C.’s population, have had one dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
More than 4.14 million people, 83.1 per cent of those eligible and 80.4 per cent of those eligible have had two doses.
And more than 1.08 million people, 23.5 per cent of those eligible and 21.1 per cent of B.C.’s population have had a booster dose.
Fully vaccinated people accounted for 82.8 per cent of cases over the past week and 60.7 per cent of hospitalizations over the past two weeks.
Since the start of the pandemic, B.C. has reported 276,875 cases, while 2,439 people have died.