B.C. reports 2 fewer people in hospital with COVID-19, but ICU admissions up by 15

B.C. health officials reported 985people in hospital with COVID-19 on Tuesday, including 144in intensive care,as the province recorded onemore deathfrom the disease and 1,446new cases.

The new numbers represent a decreaseof twoin the overall number of patients in hospital, but15 morepatientsin the ICU within the last 24 hours.

Overall hospitalizations, which typically lag behind spikes and dips in new cases, are up by 15per cent from last Tuesday, when 854people were in hospital with the disease.

Due to a data reporting change introducedJan. 14,month to monthhospitalization comparisons won't be available again until Feb. 14.

The number of patients in intensive care is upby about 28per cent from 112a week ago and up by 102per cent from a month ago when 71people were in the ICU.

Experts say hospitalizations area more accurate barometer of the disease's impact,as new case numbersin B.C. arelikely much higherthan reported, now that the province has hitits testing limit because of the Omicron surge.

There are currently 32,468recorded active cases of people infected with COVID-19.

The provincialdeath toll from COVID-19is now 2,554 lives lost out of 314,522 confirmed cases to date.

There area total of 63 active outbreaks in assisted living, long-term, and acute care facilities.

Acute care outbreaksinclude:

• Surrey Memorial Hospital.
• Abbotsford Regional Hospital.
• Langley Memorial Hospital.
• Burnaby Hospital.
• Peace Arch Hospital.
• Kelowna General Hospital.
• Royal Jubilee Hospital.

As of Tuesday, 89.6per cent of those five and older in B.C. hadreceived their first dose of aCOVID-19 vaccineand 83.6per cent asecond dose.

From Jan. 17 to 23, people who were not fully vaccinated accounted for 28.5 per centof cases. They accounted for 29.6 per centof hospitalizations from Jan. 10 to 23, according to the province.

A total of 1,912,122 people have received a booster shot to date.

B.C. Green Partycalls for improved public health measures

B.C.Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenausays her party is urging theprovinceto provide better tools and improve public health measures to allow residents to better protect themselves against thehighly transmissible Omicron variant.

"It's important because it empowers people to be able to take the measures that best protect them from transmission," Furstenau said on CBC's The Early Edition.

She said the provincial governmentneeds to do a better job explaininghow the virus is transmittedthrough the air and why ventilation and high quality masks are important.

"Its not enough to say that it's airborne," Furstenau said. "You actually have to make policies that come from that."

She says she would like to see the province providingN95 masks to all health-care workers and ensuring all classrooms in B.C. have the air filtration system they need.

"Those health-care workers are employees of the government and they deserve the highest level of protection that this government can afford in a pandemic," she said.