Alberta COVID-19 hospitalizations down, as ICU admissions see two-week incline

A registered nurse attends to a COVID-19 patient on the respirology unit at the Humber River Hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto on Tuesday, January 25, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Alberta now has 465 people in hospital with COVID-19, 25 of whom are receiving care in ICUs.

That is a decrease of 21 hospitalizations and an increase of 14 ICU admissions since the last Alberta Health update on Mar. 15.

The province was scheduled to release its weekly data on Mar. 22 but did not, citing technical issues, instead opting to release both last week's and this week's data on Wednesday.

The last time Alberta's hospitalization numbers were this low was Jan. 2, 2022.

In terms of ICU admissions, this is the highest number seen in Alberta since Feb. 1.

According to the province, 211 of the 490 people in hospital with COVID-19 on Mar. 20 were hospitalized for reasons directly related to the virus, while the other 279 people were admitted for other reasons, but incidentally tested positive. In the ICU, 60 per cent of patients were being treated because of COVID-19.

Alberta’s total number of COVID-19-related deaths went up by 24 since they were last reported. Four of those deaths belong to this week.

Alberta Health has counted 397 new COVID-19 cases after 4,885 PCR tests this week. The number of lab tests has gone up for two weeks, while the number of new cases went up last week, and went down by a single case this week in comparison.

The number of new cases is likely higher than reported because of testing limitations and because the province doesn't count positive results from rapid tests.

The average positivity rate is now at 8.57 per cent.

HOW DOES IT COMPARE?

On Mar. 27, 2020, 35 Albertans were hospitalized with COVID-19. On the same date in 2021, 276 patients were in hospital with the virus, compared to 953 last year, and 465 this year.

In 2020, there were 13 people with COVID-19 in intensive care on Mar. 27, compared to 62 in 2021, 45 last year, and 25 this year.

It is not known how many people in 2020 and 2021 were hospitalized and admitted to the ICU because of the virus versus people who were admitted for other reasons and incidentally tested positive, as that statistic was only made available by Alberta Health as of February 2022.

Alberta had 1,213 COVID-19-related deaths in 2020 and 2,106 in 2021. Last year had the highest number of fatalities, with 2,111.

There have been 213 COVID-19-related deaths so far this year, bringing the province's pandemic death toll to 5,643.

The next data update is scheduled for Wednesday, April 5.