B.C. releases detailed number on bed availability after non-essential surgeries cancelled.
VICTORIA — Metro Vancouver’s hospitals are almost half empty because the unprecedented decision by the government to cancel non-essential surgeries to make way for a potential surge of COVID-19 cases.
Detailed hospital data, compiled exclusively for Postmedia News by the Ministry of Health, showed 1,862 free beds in eight major hospitals in the Lower Mainland. St. Paul’s in downtown Vancouver has the lowest occupancy on Thursday at 52 per cent, while the highest occupancy rate in the Lower Mainland was at Abbotsford Regional Hospital with 65.9 per cent.
Provincewide, the 20 largest hospitals have an occupancy rate of 60.2 per cent, leaving 4,273 free beds. Normally, at this time of year, the occupancy rate would be more than 100 per cent.
Click here for the full story on The Kingston-Whig Standard.
