Record number of patients in B.C. hospitals this week, minister says
B.C.'s health minister says the province hit a significant – but not unexpected – record this week.
The province's inpatient hospital population was 10,435 on Tuesday, Health Minister Adrian Dix said at a news conference on Wednesday.
That's up from an average of 9,973 over the holiday period, Dix said, noting that the early-January surge is partly a byproduct of the resumption of full surgery schedules.
The health minister said officials believe hospitalization demand is at or near its peak for the current respiratory illness season. The high point for the inpatient population last year was 10,280, which was itself an all-time record, Dix said.
"What we've seen, I think, is a continuing test of our public health-care system," he said.
The province has 9,929 "base beds" in its hospitals, according to the health minister. That means a significant number of B.C.'s 2,281 "surge beds" are currently in use, but Dix said the province has the capacity to handle an increase in demand.
"We expect this to be the relative peak of the season, but it is a significant time, and our health-care teams, our health-care workers, are doing exceptional things," he said, adding that it's "not too late" to help those workers by getting updated vaccines against influenza and COVID-19.
"It's not too late" was an oft-repeated mantra as B.C.'s top health officials held their first joint news conference of 2024 Wednesday to share updates on the ongoing respiratory illness season.
MONITOR CHILDREN FOR 'WORRISOME SIGNS'
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry joined Dix in sharing information and taking questions from reporters about a season that has seen three children under the age of 10 die from complications of influenza.
All three of the children had secondary bacterial infections that contributed to their deaths, Henry said Wednesday.
"It is so sad and tragic," she said. "We know that children can be protected from these infections. We know that any respiratory virus can cause inflammation in the lungs that makes you more susceptible to having bacterial infections."
Most children with influenza and other respiratory viruses will recover on their own without needing medical attention, Henry said, adding that bacterial infections can sometimes cause patients to "deteriorate really rapidly."
She advised parents and caregivers to monitor children and "seek care quickly" if they experience difficulty breathing, fever that lasts longer than five days, or any fever in a child under three months of age.
"You should seek immediate attention if you have those worrisome signs in your children" Henry said.
B.C. STILL LEADING CANADA ON VACCINE UPTAKE: DIX
In their last joint news conference last month, Dix and Henry encouraged B.C. residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and influenza before the holidays.
At the time, Dix boasted that B.C. led the nation in vaccination rates, but noted that only about a third of residents who had been invited to get their jabs had done so.
The health minister repeated that claim Wednesday, describing it as a "tribute" to the province's pharmacists and public health workers, as well as the public's familiarity with the Get Vaccinated system for booking appointments.
"We are significantly better than other parts of the country," Dix said. "But being number one in Canada doesn't mean we can't do better ourselves."
As of Tuesday, B.C. had administered more than 1.5 million doses of flu vaccine and nearly 1.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, according to the health minister. Last year at this time, he said, both of those numbers were higher.
"We are behind where we were last year," he said. "What that tells us is we can all continue to step up to protect ourselves, to protect our communities, and I strongly encourage people to do that. There are thousands of appointments available this week, everywhere in B.C."
'TRANSITION YEAR'
B.C. began 2024 with 219 test-positive COVID-19 patients in hospitals across the province, according to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
While that marked a significant jump from the pre-holiday total of 153, it's also the lowest COVID-positive hospital population B.C. has seen to start a new year since 2020, when the disease was not yet widespread in North America.
While COVID-19 numbers have been relatively low and stable since their most recent surge in early October, influenza and RSV indicators have steadily risen, according to the BCCDC.
Henry noted Wednesday that the current respiratory illness season has followed the pattern that was typical before the pandemic, but COVID remains unpredictable.
"We're still in a transition year with COVID-19," she said.
"It's not clear yet what pattern this virus is going to take. Now that we've seen the other respiratory viruses that we were used to seeing go back to what we saw, typical patterns, we're seeing that COVID is not yet in a pattern that we can reflect continuously."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Most of the city is evacuating': Gridlock on Alberta highway after evacuation order in Fort McMurray
Four Fort McMurray neighbourhoods were ordered to evacuate on Tuesday as a wildfire gets closer to the city.
Maximum payout for LifeLabs class-action drops from $150 estimate to $7.86
Canadian LifeLabs customers who filed an application for a class-action settlement began receiving their payments this week, though at a much lower amount than initially expected.
Sask. police seize 1.5M pieces of evidence, lay 60 more charges in child exploitation case
Saskatchewan RCMP have revealed that a historic sexual assault investigation has led to the discovery of alleged crimes against children dating back to 2005.
About 1,000 wildfires confirmed so far this year: Here's a quick look at the situation in Canada
Nearly 1,000 wildfires have burned across Canada so far this year. Here's an overview of the situation in Canada.
'Inappropriate' behaviour shuts down Dublin to New York City portal
Less than a week after two public sculptures featuring a livestream between Dublin, Ireland, and New York City debuted, 'inappropriate behaviour' in real-time interactions between people in the two cities has prompted a temporary shutdown.
American sought after 'So I raped you' Facebook message detained in France on 2021 warrant
An American accused of sexually assaulting a Pennsylvania college student in 2013 and later sending her a Facebook message that said, 'So I raped you,' has been detained in France after a three-year search.
Full List Are these Canada's best restaurants? Annual top 100 list revealed
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
Tavares scores in OT, rescues Canada from potential upset in 7-6 win over Austria
Captain John Tavares scored 15 seconds into overtime and saved his teammates some embarrassment as Canada held on for a 6-5 win over Austria on Tuesday at the world hockey championship.
BREAKING Dr. Eileen de Villa, who led Toronto through the COVID-19 pandemic, announces resignation
The doctor who led Toronto through the COVID-19 pandemic as the city’s top public health official is stepping down.