Admissions for COVID-19 continue to be high, creating issues in hospitals across the province, however public health officials say the system is holding. (The Canadian Press)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

HOSPITAL ISSUES

‘Our hospitals are coping, even though we’re stretched:’ Omicron causing volume, Delta leading to longer stays

Feb 1, 2022 | 3:16 PM

NANAIMO — Hospitalization admissions continue to be some of the highest we’ve ever seen in B.C., however the province’s top doc said the system is holding.

Dr. Bonnie Henry said case numbers and hospitalizations related to the prevailing Omicron and the more severe Delta variants of COVID-19 continue to be high, but it’s not always COVID which is sending people to seek treatment.

She said during a Tuesday, Feb. 1 briefing, Delta continues to lead to more direct hospitalizations for COVID-19 symptoms, especially those under 35, while Omicron tends to sit in the background.

“Delta is causing more severe infections in younger people and in younger people who are more likely to be unvaccinated. Whereas with Omicron, in younger people, it’s much more likely to be an admission for something else where you had a positive screening test for COVID-19.”

During a screening of 550 hospital admissions province-wide from Dec. 1 onwards, 44 per cent of admissions were for non-COVID related reasons.

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Patients tested positive upon screening, leading to them being treated for the virus.

A further 40 per cent were diagnosed as COVID positive and then sought hospital care but didn’t require a visit to ICU. The remaining 16 per cent needed critical care.

“Ninety per cent of these new hospital admissions are Omicron but people with Delta stay in hospital longer, are more likely to have severe illness and the vast majority of those requiring care for Delta in hospital were a result of COVID.”

Vaccinations are also playing a role in who winds up in a hospital bed.

A separate study of admissions between Nov. 28, 2021 and Jan. 28, 2022 showed 68 per cent of unvaccinated admissions for COVID-19 were linked to Delta, while 23 per cent tested for Omicron.

In the same time period 73 people, or 14.2 per cent of total admissions with Delta died, while 78 people linked to Omicron also passed, representing a smaller 6.5 per cent of variant cases.

The volume is pushing hospitals to the brink, but Henry said the system may have bent but will not break.

“The level of immunity we have in our community has protected our healthcare system at this most critical time. While it is under severe strain, it is the credit of so many who stepped up and got that protection that our hospitals are coping, even though we’re stretched.”

Nanaimo Regional General Hospital is currently dealing with two, unrelated outbreaks. Both were announced within two days of each other in late January.

Henry also announced plans for the province to administer its roughly 4,000 doses of Paxlovid, a new drug designed to prevent the virus from replicating.

First access will go to those deemed highly immunocompromised including people taking certain medications, who have had a transplant or are undergoing certain cancer therapies.

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