Ontario continues to report drop in COVID hospitalizations and ICU cases

Ontario is reporting 319 people in ICU due to COVID-19 and 1,038 in hospital overall testing positive for COVID-19, according to its latest report released Tuesday morning.

Of the people hospitalized, 50 per cent were admitted for COVID-19 and 50 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have since tested positive. For the ICU numbers, 79 per cent were admitted for COVID-19 and 21 per cent were admitted for other reasons but have since tested positive.

The numbers represent a 0.3 per cent decrease in the ICU COVID-19 count and a 2.4 per cent decrease in hospitalizations overall. 26 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 1,282 on Tuesday, down 4 per cent from the previous day – are also not considered an accurate assessment of how widespread COVID-19 is right now. Nine new deaths were reported in the latest numbers.

Here’s the latest update on a few other data points.

HOSPITALIZATIONS BY VACCINE STATUS

TO Star analysis of data Last updated Friday shows unvaccinated people have been admitted to the ICU at a rate five 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 11,969,223 people have completed their vaccinations, which means they’ve had two doses.

That works out to approximately 85.4 per cent of the eligible population five years and older, and the equivalent of 81.4 per cent of the total population, including those not yet eligible for the vaccine.

The province says 6,890,455 people have received three twos of a Health Canada approved vaccine.

According to the Star’s vaccine tracker, 12,551,772 people in Ontario have received at least one shot. That works out to approximately 89.6 per cent of the eligible population five years and older and the equivalent of 85.4 per cent of the total population, including those not yet eligible for the vaccine.

Ontario has administered 9,733 vaccine doses since its last daily updatewith 31,528,557 vaccines given in total as of 8 pm

The province is also including data on COVID-19 in schools as part of its daily reporting when schools are in session.

Ontario says three schools have closed out of 4,844 schools province-wide or 0.06 per cent due to outbreaks or operational considerations. It does not include regional closures in a local public health unit area.

Note, data reported by the province often lags what’s reported by individual schools and may cause discrepancies.

Meanwhile, the province is reporting that there are no new deaths in long-term-care so the number of residents who have died stays the same at 4,254, in the latest report released by the province.

This data is self-reported by the long-term-care households 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.