Ontario reports 671 people hospitalized with COVID-19, 10 new deaths
Ontario #Ontario
Ontario is reporting 107 people in ICU due to COVID-19 and 671 in hospital overall testing positive for COVID-19, according to its latest report released Saturday morning.
Of the people hospitalized, 41 per cent were admitted for COVID-19 and 59 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have since tested positive. For the ICU numbers, 74 per cent were admitted for COVID-19 and 26 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have since tested positive.
The numbers represent a slight decrease in the ICU COVID-19 count and a 0.3 per cent increase in hospitalizations overall. Thirty-four 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 901 on Saturday, up 1.5 per cent from the previous day — are also not considered an accurate assessment of how widespread COVID-19 is right now. Ten 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 ICU at a rate 0.98 times higher and in the hospital overall 1.09 times higher than people who have been fully vaccinated.
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 87.1 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, 12,665,855 people in Ontario have received at least one shot. That works out to approximately 90.4 per cent of the eligible population five years and older and the equivalent of 86.2 per cent of the total population, including those not yet eligible for the vaccine.
Ontario has administered 14,204 vaccine doses since its last daily update, with 33,421,757 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.
Ontario says no schools are closed out of 4,844 schools provincewide due to outbreaks or operational considerations.
Note, data reported by the province often lags what’s reported by individual schools and may cause discrepancies.
COVID IN LONG-TERM CARE
Meanwhile, two more residents in long-term care have died for a total of 4,444 since the pandemic began, in the latest report released by the province.
Ontario is reporting no additional long-term-care homes in outbreak, for a total of 92 or 14.6 per cent of 626 long-term-care homes in the province, according to information last updated Saturday.
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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