Province responds to surge in B.C. pediatric hospital admissions

Health officials in B.C. are responding to rising pediatric hospital admission by activating a province-wide system for the first time.

BC Children’s Hospital is leading a dedicated provincial pediatric table, health officials revealed Wednesday morning during an update on COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses.

The province has a total of 21 pediatric intensive care beds, which are located at BCCH, Victoria General and University of Northern BC Hospitals.

There are also 222 neonatal ICU beds located at hospitals across the province.

Health Minister Adrian Dix noted that the small number of pediatric intensive care beds means those numbers can fluctuate dramatically when even a few patients are admitted or discharged.

The latest provincial data shows pediatric ICUs were operating at roughly 76 per cent capacity as of Wednesday, and neonatal ICUs province wide were at 64 per cent capacity.

Both Dix and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said B.C. has seen an increase in respiratory illness among children, but stressed that the pediatric health care system is not yet being overwhelmed.

Henry shared data on visits to primary health-care providers for respiratory illness, which shows a surge since September, with a particularly dramatic uptick over the last two weeks.

"That increase has been driven by respiratory illness in young people, and that should be no surprise," she said. "We've been seeing that in younger people needing ICU care and younger people going to emergency departments and seeking treatment across the province."

She added that the surge has been among children of all ages, not just those who are in school.

The largest share of doctor visits has come from patients ages five to nine, with the second-largest coming from those under age five, according to data Henry presented.

Influenza, enteroviruses and rhinoviruses have been the man drivers of this increase, the provincial health officer said.

"Enteroviruses, in particular, can also cause some more severe illness," said Henry. "We've seen EVD, enterovirus D68, which is one particular strain of the virus that can cause more severe illness in children, and that has been one of the drivers of children needing hospital care and medical care over the last few months."

Test positivity for influenza has risen dramatically in recent weeks, while cases of RSV are on the rise, but not as sharply, Henry added.

OVERALL HOSPITAL CAPACITY

Dix also provided an update on the province's overall hospital capacity, which officials warned in September could be tested by a "fall surge" in respiratory illness.

Since then, COVID-19-related hospitalizations have remained relatively low, and Dix said the health-care system continues to have capacity.

"Plans are in place, and fortunately, in large measure, we are not at a point where we need to implement them yet," the health minister said.

According to Dix, "base beds" – the number of beds available in hospitals across the province – have been at 95.4 per cent capacity in November, so far.

That number is slightly misleading, however, because B.C. also has "surge beds," which have been available since the start of the pandemic to handle excess hospitalizations. Even though there is space available in B.C.'s base beds, some surge beds are also being used.

A breakdown from the Ministry of Health provided to CTV News shows 41.3 per cent of the province's surge beds were occupied as of Wednesday.

That means, of the total number of hospital beds that exist in B.C. – including surge beds – 84.4 per cent were full as of Wednesday. The average for November, so far, according to Dix, has been 82.7 per cent.