All COVID-19 patients under age 50 in B.C. ICUs are unvaccinated, health minister says
The vast majority of people who are battling COVID-19 in B.C.'s intensive care units are not fully vaccinated against the disease, and that's especially true of the younger people who develop serious illness.
Provincial Minister of Health Adrian Dix shared the demographics of B.C.'s ICU population at a news conference on Thursday as he repeated his perpetual appeal for residents to get vaccinated.
Dix said there are 130 people in intensive care in the province as of Thursday - one more than the number officially released by the health ministry on Wednesday - though he cautioned that Thursday's numbers had not yet been finalized.
Of those 130, Dix said, 111 are unvaccinated, 10 are partially vaccinated and nine are fully vaccinated.
Moreover, no one under age 50 who is in a B.C. ICU right now is fully vaccinated, Dix said.
That group - people in intensive care with COVID-19 who are under age 50 - accounts for 32 of the 130 ICU cases, according to the health minister's numbers. That's roughly one-quarter of coronavirus patients in intensive care.
As has long been the case, older people account for a larger portion of those hospitalized with COVID-19. Still, those who are unvaccinated make up most of the ICU cases among B.C. residents age 50 and older.
Another 32 unvaccinated people in their 50s are in B.C. ICUs right now, Dix said, as are 25 unvaccinated people in their 60s.
"This can affect everybody," he said. "It is - I think, in this context, with the Delta variant prevalent - a foolish thing to not be vaccinated. It, of course, puts stresses on everybody in our health-care system."
Dix described the outcomes for COVID-19 patients who end up in intensive care units in B.C. as "the best in the world," but added that most ICU cases could be avoided if everyone were fully vaccinated.
"We are doing an extraordinary job - when people are extremely sick with COVID-19 and in our hospitals and in our ICUs - at helping them," Dix said. "However, I want to be very plain: Everyone would rather be doing something else."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.