175 in hospital with COVID-19 in BCCDC's first update since end of public health emergency

The first COVID-19 data released by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control since the official end of the province's public health emergency shows hospitalizations decreasing, but still near their highs for the year.

There were 175 test-positive COVID patients in B.C. hospitals as of Thursday, according to the BCCDC. That's down from 204 at the start of last month, but still the fourth-highest total of 2024, and more than double the 76 people hospitalized at this time last year.

The number of patients with COVID-19 in B.C. hospitals, as reported in public updates from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control in 2024, is show. (CTV News)

Last week, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced she was ending the COVID-related public health emergency declaration that had been in place since early 2020. 

The move meant all remaining restrictions – principally the vaccine mandate that remained in place for most health-care workers – would be lifted, and unvaccinated health-care workers could reapply for jobs in B.C.'s health system.

Critics panned the move as both too late and politically motivated, noting that B.C. was the last province in Canada to end its vaccination requirement, has been struggling to keep emergency departments in rural areas open due to staff shortages, and has a provincial election upcoming in October.

Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix defended the move, saying the vaccine mandate was "instrumental" in protecting health-care workers and patients, and that the number of workers fired for refusing the vaccine was relatively small.

The provincial health officer added that the decision to end the public health emergency had "nothing to do" with the election.

"There is an obligation under the Public Health Act for me to lift orders as soon as reasonably possible when the conditions are no longer met," Henry said.

She added that the change could potentially have been made "a few months ago," but there was still uncertainty around the impacts of a spring wave of COVID-19.

Indeed, Henry noted that uncertainty around the coronavirus that shut down the world back in 2020 remains, and said transmission would likely surge again in the fall.

"We know (the virus) is inevitably going to mutate," she said. "It may be that we'll need to have different varieties of the vaccine over time."

Henry characterized the number of people ending up in hospitals and intensive care units because of COVID-19 as "lower and stable," and CTV News tracking of BCCDC data supports this conclusion.

The highest hospitalization total seen in the province in 2024 so far is 219, and all but two published updates have shown totals below 200.

In 2023, the number of people in hospital with COVID varied more widely, from as high as 422 to as low as 76.

In 2022, the published total climbed as high as 1,054 in the early days of the Omicron variant, and the lowest total recorded for the year was 255.

The BCCDC's most recent update showed 368 new, lab-confirmed COVID infections in the province, though that number significantly underestimates the spread of the virus because most people in the province do not qualify for lab-based testing.

Wastewater surveillance data, which is published weekly and can help approximate the prevalence of COVID in the broader community, has shown "elevated" concentrations of the virus for the last several weeks, but is "stabilizing or decreasing" in most locations, according to the BCCDC. 

With files from The Canadian Press