B.C. public health teams recorded another 1,236 confirmed cases of COVID-19 province-wide Tuesday, as the number of hospital patients with active infections declined slightly from Monday’s total.
There are 1,035 people in hospital with active COVID-19 infections as of Feb. 1, down from 1,048 in the past 24 hours, a sign that the peak in new cases in January is showing up in hospitals. There are 139 people in intensive care with active infections, up one since Monday. Nine more deaths were attributed to the coronavirus pandemic Tuesday, for a total of 2,625 fatalities since the pandemic began two years ago.
The rising number of infected patients in B.C. hospitals is largely a result of the Omicron surge. New data from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control show 44 per cent of B.C. patients testing positive for COVID-19 after admission to hospital since Dec. 1 were admitted for other conditions and had either mild or no respiratory symptoms. For cases where Omicron is identified as the infection variant, the tests show 60 per cent of hospital admissions are for reasons other than COVID-19 during December and January.
“So it’s not COVID that’s driving them into hospital,” provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said at a briefing from Vancouver Feb. 1.
more to come…
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