The B.C. Ministry of Health reported 171 new cases of COVID-19 in the Northern Health region on Tuesday.
However, the number of active cases in the region dropped from 1,298 on Monday to 1,167 on Tuesday.
As of Tuesday, there were 29 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the Northern Health region, including eight in critical care, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control reported. No new COVID-related deaths were reported in northern B.C. on Tuesday, leaving the region’s death toll from the pandemic at 284.
Throughout the province, 1,006 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in in B.C., including 139 in intensive care.
“We’re at the highest level of people (with COVID-19) we’ve had in hospital,” provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said during a public update on Tuesday afternoon.
The odds of being hospitalized with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 are substantially lower than with the Delta variant, she said – only 1.3 per cent, compared with 5.1 per cent, Henry said, citing data from B.C. hospitals.
“(But) A 1.3 per cent risk of hospitalization is still very high when you have thousands of people a day being infected,” Henry said.
Roughly 60 per cent of people hospitalized with the Omicron variant arrived at the hospital for treatment for some other condition, and then tested positive for COVID, she said.
B.C.’s high vaccination rate has been key to keeping hospitalizations at a manageable level, despite COVID-19 cases surging across B.C., she said.
“The level of immunity in our community has protected our hospital system,” Henry said. “Our hospitals are coping, even though they are stretched.”
As of Tuesday, 89.9 per cent of eligible British Columbians (aged five and older) had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 84 per cent have received two doses.
Nearly 10.78 million does of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in B.C. as of Tuesday, including 502,536 doses in the Northern Health region.
