Younger British Columbians hospitalized with COVID-19 concerning, says top doctor
Posted March 22, 2021 4:40 pm.
Last Updated March 23, 2021 5:27 am.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – B.C.’s top doctor is expressing concern over younger people ending up in the hospital because of COVID-19 as the province continues immunizing people against the virus.
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Monday an increase in cases and hospitalizations has been mostly in the Lower Mainland.
“Concerningly, we’re starting to see younger people who are being affected end up in hospital and needing hospital and ICU care,” she said. “At the same time, we’re having more and more people protected by these vaccines, but we do not yet have enough protection to keep us all safe.”
“We have seen several young people in their 30s, and 40s who, unfortunately, tragically, been severely affected by COVID,” Henry said, adding data on the age of patients hospitalized is still being compiled. “[COVID-19] is still, of course, riskier the older you are, but as we are protecting more and more older people, we are seeing risk in younger people.”
Q-with so many older ppl vaccinated who are the 16 who died.
DBH: 2 deaths related to outbreaks over.
Seeing younger age groups needing hospitalization and
several in 30s and 40s severely affected.#bcpoli @news1130 #covid19— LizaYuzda (@LizaYuzda) March 22, 2021
New infections are coming from workplaces and exposures in homes, Henry added. She again reminded British Columbians to adhere to health orders, which means no more than groups of 10 people gathering and only outside.
“We know that the B.1.1.7 variant is more transmissible. It’s much easier to spread it with even minimal contact in indoor settings,” Henry said.
Over the three-day period reported Monday, 166 new variants have been retrospectively identified, bringing the total to 1,366 so far. Of those, 237 cases are active and the predominant strain continues to be the B.1.1.7 variant, first identified in the U.K.
However, Henry said there hasn’t been an increased risk of deaths or hospitalization despite the variants.
“Our overall hospitalization rate remains the same as what we’ve seen or slightly less than what we’re seeing in the general population around five per cent. We have not seen an increase in deaths either,” she said.
BC #covid19 Mar 22
Sat 556,Sun 598,Mon 631, 1785new- total 92571
16 death-1437 (1 of these historical)
Recovered 85746
VCH(21278)+469
FH(53066)+1010
Int(7967)+84
Island(2867)+89
North(5443)+133
Active (5207)5290
Monitor(9412)9330
Hosp/icu(292/85)303/80#bcpoli @news1130— LizaYuzda (@LizaYuzda) March 22, 2021
This comes as the province reported a three-day total of 1,785 new infections and that sixteen more people have died because of the virus, one of which was a historical death. Henry confirmed two of the people who passed away were long-term care residents.
There aren’t any new outbreaks and the ones at the Florentine and Chilliwack General Hospital have ended.
How vaccines are being used in B.C.
Henry touched on how the province is using COVID-19 vaccines while she and Health Minister Adrian Dix stressed that daily infections are too high.
RELATED: Canada expecting surge in COVID-19 vaccine deliveries to begin this week
Henry said the province will continue to address “hot spots” in areas considered to be high-risk with the AstraZeneca vaccine “so that we can protect workers, and, in turn, protect our communities.”
“We’re using this vaccine with the local medical health officers and making decisions about where we are seeing risk and outbreaks and clusters right now to provide protection to frontline workers and those working and living in higher-risk settings where we have seen repeatedly transmission can be high and it spills over into our homes, into our communities,” she said.
The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines will be used for people receiving their shots through the province’s age-based program.
She noted the distribution is being ramped up as more doses are delivered to Canada, putting B.C. ahead of schedule for vaccinating the population.
Dix said 10.5 per cent of eligible British Columbians have been immunized with their first shot.
To date, more than 538,948 doses have vaccines have been administered in B.C.
