Ontario reports 37.6 per cent decrease in hospitalizations for COVID-19, three new deaths
Ontario #Ontario
Ontario is reporting 79 people in ICU due to COVID-19 and 419 in hospital overall testing positive for COVID-19, according to its latest report released Sunday morning.
The numbers represent a 2.5 per cent decrease in the ICU COVID-19 count and a 37.6 per cent decrease in hospitalizations overall. 29.2 per cent of the province’s 2,343 adult ICU beds remain available for new patients.
Given new provincial regulations around testing that took effect Dec. 31, 2021, case counts — reported at 710 on Saturday, down 21.2 per cent from the previous day — are also not considered an accurate assessment of how widespread COVID-19 is right now.
Three new deaths were reported in the latest numbers.
HOSPITALIZATIONS BY VACCINE STATUS
A Star analysis of data shows unvaccinated people have been admitted to the hospital 1.09 times higher than people who have been fully vaccinated as of Friday. The analysis shows unvaccinated people are being admitted to the ICU 0.98 times the rate of vaccinated people.
Because of Ontario’s strong uptake in vaccines, fully vaccinated people account for a large percentage of the overall population. That means they would logically account for a higher percentage of people in hospital when looking at raw numbers.
Given the prevalence of the Omicron variant in Ontario, breakthrough infections among fully vaccinated people are common but early data from multiple studies around the world suggest symptoms are more mild and serious complications are more rare than in previous stages of the pandemic.
The province warns that due to the way data is collected its hospitalization by vaccination status numbers may not match broader hospital data as reported on any given day.
Due to incomplete weekend and holiday reporting, vaccination status data for hospital and ICU admissions is not updated on Sundays, Mondays and the day after holidays.
VACCINES
The province says 12,207,728 people have completed their vaccinations, which means they’ve had two doses.
That works out to approximately 87 per cent of the eligible population five years and older, and the equivalent of 83 per cent of the total population, including those not yet eligible for the vaccine.
The province says 7,381,250 people have received three doses of a Health Canada-approved vaccine.
According to the Star’s vaccine tracker, 12,666,482 people in Ontario have received at least one shot. That works out to approximately 90 per cent of the eligible population five years and older and the equivalent of 86 per cent of the total population, including those not yet eligible for the vaccine.
Ontario has administered 7,877 vaccine doses since its last daily update, with 33,429,634 vaccines given in total as of 8 p.m.
COVID IN SCHOOLS
The province is also including data on COVID-19 in schools as part of its daily reporting when schools are in session.
The province says there are no school closures in Ontario.
Note, data reported by the province often lags what’s reported by individual schools and may cause discrepancies.
COVID IN LONG-TERM CARE
According to the latest report released by the province, the number of residents who have died in long-term-care homes is at 4,444. Ontario’s report on Sunday does not include Saturday’s data.
Ontario is reporting no change long-term-care homes in outbreak, for a total of 92 or 14.7 per cent of the 626 LTC homes in the province.
This data is self-reported by the long-term-care homes to the Ministry of Long-Term Care. Daily case and death figures may not immediately match the numbers posted by the local public health units due to lags in reporting time.
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