Number with COVID-19 in B.C. hospitals rises as other illnesses draw focus

The number of test-positive COVID-19 patients in B.C. hospitals rose back over 300 this week for the first time in about a month.

There were 328 people in hospital with the disease as of Thursday, up from 290 at this time last week.

The number of people in hospital on Thursdays since B.C. switched to a "hospital census" model that includes incidental cases is shown. (CTV)

The current hospital population includes both those with serious cases of COVID-19 requiring hospitalization and those who are hospitalized for other reasons and test positive incidentally.

Health officials estimate that between 50 and 60 per cent of the total in any given week is incidental hospitalizations.

Since the province switched to this "hospital census" method of counting in January, there have been as many as 985 and as few as 255 patients in hospital with COVID-19 on a Thursday.

OTHER ILLNESSES RISING

The latest numbers come as officials blame other respiratory illnesses for a surge in doctor visits and hospitalizations – particularly among children. 

On Wednesday, in their first joint news conference since September, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix provided an update on influenza, COVID-19 and other illnesses in the province.

"For the last couple of months, one of the main causes of respiratory illness across the province has been enteroviruses and rhinoviruses," Henry said. "Those are ones that we call 'the common cold.'"

While those viruses, influenza and RSV have all been on the rise in recent weeks, Henry said the province has seen "a levelling off" of COVID-19 infections.

"That's not what's causing most of the respiratory illness that we're seeing right now," she added.

In the COVID-19 data released Thursday, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control reported 487 new, lab-confirmed cases of the coronavirus during the week of Nov. 6 to 12.

That's an increase from the total reported during the previous week, but still among the lowest weekly totals the BCCDC has reported since it switched to weekly updates in April.

Notably, however, the official data on COVID-19 transmission only includes results from lab-based PCR tests, and does not count reinfections.

The independent BC COVID-19 Modelling Group has estimated that official case counts are off by roughly 100-fold because they don't include cases confirmed through at-home rapid antigen tests – the only type of testing available to most British Columbians.

Still, wastewater surveillance data from the Lower Mainland continues to show relatively low and stable concentrations of the coronavirus. Henry said Wednesday that early indications from treatment plants in the Interior and on Vancouver Island show similar trends, though not enough data has been collected for publication yet. 

VACCINATION DATA

On Wednesday, Henry attributed B.C.'s current levels of COVID-19 transmission and hospitalization to the high level of immunity from vaccination and previous infection in the province.

She and Dix rejected calls for a return of mandatory masking in the face of increased respiratory illness, and encouraged people to get fall booster shots against COVID-19 and influenza. 

The BCCDC provides weekly updates on the number of COVID-19 vaccines administered through its online dashboard.

During the week that ended Nov. 12, the province administered 132,062 new doses of vaccine, about 28,000 fewer than the previous week.

In all, more than 4.5 million people have received at least a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and more than 4.4 million have had at least two shots.

Uptake of booster shots drops off significantly, however, with a little more than 2.9 million third doses administered.

B.C.'s total population as of 2022 is estimated to be roughly 5.3 million.

Data on flu vaccine uptake in B.C. is not published regularly, but Henry's Wednesday presentation indicated that as of Nov. 13, roughly 50 per cent of those ages 65 and older had received a flu shot this year, with considerably smaller proportions of other age groups having had one.

Overall, about 20 per cent of B.C. residents have received a flu shot in 2022 through the province's Get Vaccinated system. The data does not include physician-administered doses, according to Henry's presentation.