Island Health adds 34 COVID-19 hospitalizations in first weekly pandemic update

Island Health reported 34 new COVID-19 hospitalizations last week, according to B.C.'s new weekly report on the COVID-19 pandemic.

The hospital admissions were recorded between March 27 and April 2, which is the most recent data released by the province Thursday.

Across the province, 193 hospitalizations related to COVID-19 were reported in B.C. over the same time period.

CHANGES IN REPORTING

Between March 27 and April 2, health officials say 11 COVID-19-related deaths were confirmed in B.C., three of which occurred in Island Health.

The province notes, however, that it is changing the way it reports pandemic deaths.

Previously, each death attributed to COVID-19 was reviewed by public health staff before being listed as a pandemic death in B.C.

Under the province's new weekly updates, however, pandemic deaths are considered any person who died after testing positive for COVID-19 within the past 30 days.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry previously warned that this may be an "over-counting" of COVID-19 deaths at first. However, cumulative totals will be adjusted on an ongoing basis as health officials determine if someone's death "truly resulted" from a COVID-19 infection or from some other cause.

On average, cause of death information takes about four to eight months to enter into the province's pandemic system, based on information from B.C.'s Vital Statistics Agency, health officials said Thursday.

The province says one of the main reasons why it's switching to weekly pandemic reports is because the new system uses more automated data, which reduces the amount of manual, resource-intensive work that was required to produce daily updates.

"The new COVID-19 reporting approach aligns with a shift away from a 'case-management' model to a 'surveillance' approach that focuses on identifying meaningful changes in COVID-19 trends over time across different regions of the province," health officials said Thursday.