COVID-19 remains a global health emergency, WHO says On Oct. 17, 2021, there were 218 COVID patients in ICU and 772 in non-ICU spaces, a total of 990.
A year later, 33 were in ICU and 1037 in non-ICU spaces for a total of 1070 – 80 more than a year ago.Dr. Shazma Mithani, an Edmonton-based emergency physician, expected things to get worse in hospitals as the cold weather sets in and respiratory viruses spread through more of the community.“This is just the beginning,” Mithani told Shaye Ganam on Tuesday.“This is still going to get worse over the next several months before it gets better.“We’re just at the cusp of influenza season.
We’re seeing our COVID numbers go up as well. And so we’re going to see impacts of that as added pressure to the already existing pressure on the hospitals right now.”Mithani said in a typical calendar year, the summer months allow for reprieve in Alberta emergency departments.The summers of 2020 and 2021 saw troughs in hospitalized COVID patients.
On July 24, 2021, a total of 70 COVID hospitalizations marked that summer’s low point. But 2022 bucked that trend, with COVID hospitalizations reaching a low point of 543 on July 9.There haven’t been fewer than 400 COVID-19 patients in hospital in all of 2022.The Health Quality Council of Alberta, which publicly tracks hospital occupancy, doesn’t have data past March 2022.