Slight improvement in Manitoba’s COVID-related hospitalization numbers

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/02/2022 (1499 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

COVID-related hospitalizations are still declining in Manitoba, but hospitals are nowhere near back to normal levels.

From early to mid-January, the rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations increased 70 to 80 per cent week over week. But in the past week, they dropped by 4.5 per cent.

“Things in the health-care system are showing signs of slowing, but don’t misinterpret that for anything resembling normal. It’s very busy,” said Dr. David Matear, health system co-lead with the province’s incident command centre.

“There are still many staff redeployed away from their normal duties to support the care of COVID patients. And there are many Manitobans who continue to wait for procedures,” he said. Nearly 250 staff have been redeployed to care for COVID-19 patients, and another 170 nurses and health-care aides were redeployed to personal-care homes.

There were 702 patients hospitalized with COVID Monday morning, a decrease of 14 patients in 24 hours. Of 109 patients in intensive care Monday morning, 47 of them were being treated for COVID-19. There were also two children being treated in the pediatric ICU.

About 90 per cent of Manitoba’s ICU patients with COVID-19 have the Omicron variant, even though the Delta variant was still the most common in the ICU a few weeks ago.

“What this tells us is that while Omicron is showing less-severe outcomes for most Manitobans, there are still those in our communities who are vulnerable to severe illness,” Matear said.

The province conducted a review of medical charts belonging to COVID-positive patients starting Jan. 17 and found about 65 per cent of ICU patients were being treated for COVID, while 35 per cent had COVID but were being treated for other conditions. About three weeks ago, about 80 per cent of ICU patients were being treated for COVID-19. Matear said the distinction helps the province track hospitalization-capacity needs. He didn’t have an answer as to how the province tracks patients who are receiving medical care for pre-existing conditions that got worse because of a COVID-19 infection.

Matear said he treats the incidental COVID-19 data as a planning tool, but couldn’t comment on the “medical aspects” of the distinction.

Only about 10 per cent of hospital-ward beds are available in Manitoba. There were 160 of 1,574 medicine beds available for use as of last Thursday, he said.

A total of 270 Manitoba patients have been transferred to hospitals outside their home health region over the past three months, including 13 in the past week.

katie.may@winnipegfreepress.com