COVID-19 hospitalizations in Ontario were 31 percent higher in 2022 than in 2021, while deaths from the disease were 39 percent higher than the previous year, according to a new report from Public Health Ontario.
The report said that the difference in hospitalizations and deaths between 2021 and 2022 was impacted by differences in circulating SARS-CoV-2 variant characteristics—such as transmissibility and immune evasion—as well as different public health measures, population immunity, COVID-19 vaccine uptake, and COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness against variants.
The highest increase in hospitalizations was seen in the elderly population, with the data showing those aged 60-79 had 11,212 hospitalizations in 2022 compared to 8,562 in 2021, while those aged 80 and over had 11,885 hospitalizations in 2022, compared to 4,712 in 2021; increases of 30 percent and 152 percent respectively.
Younger Ontarians also had a dramatic rise in hospitalizations in 2022.
Infants under one year of age saw an increase from 150 hospitalizations in 2021 to 732 in 2022, children aged 1-4 years saw an increase from 121 hospitalizations in 2021 to 505 in 2022, and those aged 5-11 saw an increase from 76 to 232 hospitalizations during the same time period—increases of 388 percent, 317 percent, and 205 percent, respectively.
Deaths due to COVID-19 also increased in 2022 among most age groups compared to the previous year.
Those under 20 years of age saw an increase from 7 deaths in 2021 to 28 deaths in 2022, the age group of 60-79 saw 2,452 deaths in 2022 versus 2,141 deaths in 2021, and the age group of over 80 saw 4,596 deaths versus 2,674 in 2021—increases of 300 percent, 14 percent, and 71 percent.
Deaths during that time frame decreased by 17 percent in the 20-59 group, with 663 deaths in 2022 versus 549 in 2021.
The report said the Omicron COVID variants led to a larger number of total infections in 2022, which in turn resulted in a larger number of hospitalizations than the previous year.
