Saskatchewan Health Authority’s (SHA) annual report shows the month to month number of intensive care unit (ICU) patients within the province, and the rate was lower during COVID months than the immediate pre-COVID-19 months..The chart – which does not include the past five months, or “the third wave” – compares total ICU visits and discharges from April 2019 to March 2020, and April 2020 to March 2021.. CreditSHA .“COVID-19 admissions were considerably lower in fiscal 2019-2020 because the virus did not begin to spread until the end of the fiscal year,” writes SHA..Despite the increase in COVID-19 admissions, total ICU visits remained consistently lower during fiscal 2020-2021..However, the chart does not include information about the duration of time spent in ICU beds. COVID-19 related stays often last longer, which may create an overlap if people are staying for 14 days or more as opposed to a two or three day stay..Reid Small is a BC correspondent for the Western Standard.,rsmall@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/reidsmall
