B.C.'s COVID-19 hospitalizations have reached their peak, health officials say

The number of patients being admitted to B.C. hospitals with COVID-19 appears to have peaked, health officials said Tuesday while revealing the majority are so-called "incidental" cases.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations has started decreasing across every age group, following the trend observed in confirmed case numbers weeks ago.

"It does look like we are at our peak of hospitalizations," Henry said. "And this is where we would expect to be, given the modelling that we've been using to help us understand the trajectory."

While B.C.'s hospitalization numbers reached a new record-high of 1,054 on Monday, an increasing proportion have been incidental cases since Omicron overtook Delta as the dominant variant in the province.

Incidental cases are when a patient is hospitalized for reasons unrelated to COVID-19 and tests positive during routine screening.

Henry pointed to a review of 550 patients from across the province, from Dec. 1 onward, that found 44 per cent fell into the incidental category. That percentage increased to about 65 per cent when isolating Omicron patients who had received at least one dose of vaccine – and Omicron now makes up about 90 per cent of COVID-19 hospitalizations.

Henry acknowledged that hospitals remain under "severe strain," but credited widespread vaccination across B.C. for preventing the system from being absolutely overwhelmed.

"The level of immunity we have in our community has protected our health-care system at this most critical time," she said. "Our hospitals are coping, even though they're stretched."

Unvaccinated Omicron patients were more likely to be in hospital for reasons directly related to COVID-19, with only 48 per cent of admissions determined to be incidental in the review.

The Omicron wave has brought other encouraging changes as well – the length of hospital stays has decreased by about half, as has the rate of COVID-19 patients dying, Henry said.

The odds of requiring hospitalization due to Omicron has also decreased by about 50 per cent, when adjusting for age, sex, comorbidities, socioeconomic status and vaccination status, according to officials.

Henry noted the unvaccinated are making up a smaller proportion of patients during the Omicron wave, something she attributed to the rise in incidental cases.

Unvaccinated British Columbians are still over-represented among COVID-19 patients – making up 26 per cent of hospitalizations from Jan. 14 to 27, despite accounting for less than 14 per cent of the population.

B.C. has also seen an increase in serious illness among people age 80 and older, regardless of vaccination status. Henry said that group is more likely to have underlying illness that could send them to hospital, where they would be screened for COVID-19.

The updated understanding of Omicron was cited as the reason behind updated guidelines for declaring care home outbreaks, and a new policy allowing seniors to each have one essential visitor and one designated visitor, even when there are COVID-19 cases in their facility.

Sources told CTV News the changes were quietly made weeks ago – and some residents and families have found the new system of declaring outbreaks confusing and lacking clarity.