Hospitalizations in B.C. continue to break records with the addition of another 173 people in hospital with COVID-19 over the weekend.
This brings the total to 819, shattering the records set late last week.
Luckily, only four of those people were admitted to the ICU, bringing that total to 99.
Forty-four people in the ICU are on ventilators, which is unchanged from Friday.
Another 22 people have also died from complications due to the virus, the province announced Monday, bringing that total to 2,490 since the pandemic began.
These deaths include someone in their 50s and someone in their 70s, Global News has learned.
The new method for counting COVID-19 in hospitals amounts to a “census” of all positive cases, regardless of their reason for admission, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry explained at a Friday morning briefing, acknowledging it was an “overestimate.”
“It includes people related, because of COVID. It includes people who are incidentally found to have COVID-19, and it includes people who were part of an outbreak or cluster in a hospital, so acquired it while they were in the hospital for something else,” she said.
Read more:
COVID-19: 6 more deaths, another B.C. hospitalization record under new reporting method
Over the three days, B.C. also counted another 5,625 new cases of the virus, driven by the Omicron variant.
These include 2,383 from Friday to Saturday, 1,733 from Saturday to Sunday and 1,509 from Sunday to Monday.
This brings the total to 35,985 active cases and a total of 299,146 since the pandemic began.
As of Monday, Jan. 17, 2022, 89.2 per cent (4,447,145) of eligible people five and older in B.C. have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 83.4 per cent (4,155,929) have received their second dose.
In addition, 92.4 per cent (4,281,923) of eligible people 12 and older in B.C. have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, 89.6 per cent (4,155,444) received their second dose and 33.3 per cent (1,544,191) have received a third dose.
Also, 92.7 per cent (4,011,270) of all eligible adults in B.C. have received their first dose, 90.1 per cent (3,897,871) have received their second dose and 35.7 per cent (1,542,958) have received a third dose.
There have been eight new health-care facility outbreaks at Mayfair Senior Living + Care, MSA Manor (Fraser Health), Heritage Square (Interior Health), Salvation Army Sunset Lodge, James Bay Care Centre, The Heights at Mt. View, Luther Court and Selkirk Village Assisted Living (Island Health). The outbreaks at Royal Columbian Hospital, The Waverly Seniors Village, Glenwood Seniors Community (Fraser Health) and German Canadian Benevolent Society Home (Vancouver Coastal Health) have been declared over, for a total of 50 facilities with ongoing outbreaks, the province reported Monday.
Provincial modelling released Friday suggested B.C. could see new hospitalizations peak late this week.
Henry said the Omicron variant is leading to hospital visits being shorter and should lead to the pressure on the system easing quicker than during Delta-driven waves.
Hospitalization data continues to indicate those over the age of 70 are more likely to go to the hospital with COVID than any other age demographic. If you are unvaccinated in any age demographic there is a 12 times higher likelihood you will end up in the hospital, 27 times more likely to end up in ICU and 40 times higher likelihood of death.