As COVID-19 cases increase in the province, so too are the number of people in hospital.
There are 42 people in hospital as of yesterday – the highest since May 21. Fourteen of those people are in ICU and Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says the numbers are a little worrying.
“We know that as more cases happen as more people become ill with this, even if they are mostly younger people, we are starting to see that spill over into long term care homes where people work and have contact with older family members and others in our community, leading to people being hospitalized,” she said.
“We also know that even young people can get very sick with this. As we see more young people being infected with this virus, chances are that some of them are going to get sick enough to require hospital care and that is a concern as well.”
There is no one in hospital with COVID-19 in the Interior or on Vancouver Island. Of the 42 people in hospital, 35 are in the Lower Mainland and the rest are in the Northern Health Authority.
Data from the province shows there were five people in hospital across B.C. on August 3, but on September 3 it was up to 34 people. About 9 per cent of the total case load – 638 people – have spent some time in hospital. The median age of those people has been 68 years.
“One of the things that we watch is length of stay, how many people are actually coming in on an ongoing basis,” Henry said. “So the number has creeped up, but its been different people. So there have been people admitted who have gone home and then new people are coming in for a period of time.”
Back in early April, there were 149 people in hospital across the province, the highest its been during the pandemic.