Ontario reports 2,081 people in hospital due to COVID-19 and 288 in ICU on Wednesday
Ontario is reporting 288 people in ICU due to COVID-19 and 2,081 in hospital overall testing positive for COVID-19, according to its latest report released Wednesday morning.
The numbers represent a eight per cent increase in the ICU COVID-19 count and a 61.3 per cent increase in hospitalizations overall; 87.7 per cent of the province's 2,343 adult ICU beds remain available for new patients.
Provincial numbers for overall hospitalizations should be used with caution as a factor in determining the severity of COVID-19 cases because they include people who have tested positive but are not hospitalized as a direct result of the virus. In some cases, individual hospitals have said nearly 50 per cent of people testing positive weren't admitted due to COVID.
Given new provincial regulations around testing that took effect Dec. 31, 2021, case counts - reported at 11,582 on Wednesday, up two per cent from the previous day - are also not considered an accurate assessment of how widespread COVID-19 is right now. Fourteen 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 six times higher and in the hospital overall two 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 11,436,474 people have completed their vaccinations, which means they've had two doses.
That works out to approximately 81.6 per cent of the eligible population five years and older.
The province says 4,056,554 people have received three doses of a Health Canada approved vaccine.
According to the Star's vaccine tracker, 12,239,815 people in Ontario have received at least one shot. That works out to approximately 87.3 per cent of the eligible population five years and older.
Ontario has administered 180,013 vaccine doses since its last daily update, with 27,750,953 vaccines given in total as of 8 p.m. Tuesday.
COVID IN LONG-TERM-CARE
Meanwhile, one more resident in long-term-care has died for a total of 4,039 since the pandemic began, in the latest report released by the province.
Ontario is reporting 10 more long-term-care homes in outbreak, for a total of 145 or 23 per cent of 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.
Mariam Nouser is a reporter for the Star's radio room based in Toronto. Reach Mariam via email: mnouser@thestar.ca