TORONTO (LifeSiteNews) – Ontario has adjusted its COVID hospitalizations recording method, resulting in an almost 50 percent drop in COVID specific hospitalizations in the province.
Toronto Sun journalist Anthony Furey tweeted the news this morning, stating: “Ontario has now updated their hospital data to disclose that, as of today’s numbers, 46% of general covid hospitalizations are incidental and 17% of covid ICU numbers are incidental.”
Ontario has now updated their hospital data to disclose that, as of today’s numbers, 46% of general covid hospitalizations are incidental and 17% of covid ICU numbers are incidental.
— Anthony Furey (@anthonyfurey) January 11, 2022
An incidental hospital admission refers to someone who is admitted to the hospital and tests positive for COVID with a PCR test but was not admitted to the hospital for COVID and is not suffering illness from COVID.
In other words, they are in the hospital for non-COVID illness or an injury, but because they tested positive as part of routine admission testing, they count as a COVID hospitalization.
Health care workers now have the option to input COVID information about a patient as pertinent to their diagnoses or incidental.
Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliot confirmed the change in a tweet, saying: “We are updating Ontario’s public reporting to distinguish patients hospitalized due to #COVID19 from those admitted for other reasons with COVID-19.”
We are updating Ontario’s public reporting to distinguish patients hospitalized due to #COVID19 from those admitted for other reasons with COVID-19.
— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) January 11, 2022
According to the government’s official numbers, there are today 2,203 Ontarians in hospital who have tested positive for COVID, with 74 per cent fully or partially vaccinated. Only 54 percent of those 2,203 people were admitted for reasons associated with COVID, and 46 percent were admitted for other reasons.
The change in reporting method corresponds to information that Anthony Furey relayed last week when he tweeted that a memo was sent to Ontario hospitals that they were to “document COVID-19 positive rest results as either the primary cause for admission to critical care or as an incidental finding on routine testing.”
NEW: As of today, a memo sent to Ontario hospitals explains new fields have been added to their reporting software “to document COVID-19 positive test results as either the primary cause for admission to critical care or as an incidental finding on routine testing.”
— Anthony Furey (@anthonyfurey) January 7, 2022
The Ontario government has consistently used COVID hospitalization numbers as a metric to enforce lockdowns on the province at large and to shutter business. In addition, calls to stop the unvaccinated from participating in public events have relied on information that until today almost doubled the number of Ontarians who were in hospital for COVID-specific reasons.
The altered input method follows hospital employees anonymously calling foul on government messaging that COVID hospitalizations are the main issues at Ontario hospitals, as reported by Furey at the Toronto Sun. One doctor told Furey regarding difficulties with hospital services in Ontario, “It’s a staffing issue and nothing more than that… It’s not a COVID issue.”