Age and vaccination status key factors in N.W.T. residents' ability to combat COVID-19, new data shows

New public health data indicates age and vaccination status were key factors in N.W.T. residents' ability to combat COVID-19. 

The Northwest Territories' Office of the Chief Public Health Officer (OCPHO) released the data late Tuesday afternoon. The OCPHO had previously declined to share statistics on COVID-19 patients in order to protect patients' privacy, however after the 20th COVID-19 death last week, the office said it had reached a threshold where the information could be made public without compromising resident's privacy. 

While presenting the data, Dr. Kami Kandola acknowledged that each death from COVID-19 represents a significant loss to families, friends and communities in the territory.

As of March 14, there have been 100 hospitalizations, 29 intensive care unit (ICU) admissions and 20 deaths due to COVID-19 infections since the start of the pandemic.

More than half of the severe outcomes, hospitalizations or deaths, are attributed to the Delta variant. 

Hospitalization rates were over four times higher in unvaccinated individuals, and death rates were almost nine times higher in those infected with the Delta variant. 

Hospitalizations in patients with the Omicron variant, however, were similar between vaccinated and unvaccinated residents – out of 10,000 residents, there were approximately nine hospitalizations in those unvaccinated and eight hospitalizations for individuals who received two or more doses. 

The number of deaths was too low to draw conclusions about vaccine effectiveness in preventing deaths from the Omicron variant in the territory, the report says.

The data shows that individuals over the age of 80 were at the greatest risk of severe outcomes, accounting for about 45 per cent of total hospitalizations in patients with the Delta variant and 47 per cent in patients with the Omicron variant. The same demographic accounts for about 67 per cent of COVID-19-related deaths in the territory. 

There were no deaths in residents under the age of 30 in the N.W.T., and no hospitalizations in the 5-14 age range.

The Tłı̨chǫ region had the highest rate of COVID-19-related hospitalizations and deaths in the territory.

The Sahtu had the second highest rate of hospitalizations, followed by Yellowknife. 

Yellowknife had the second highest rate of COVID-19 deaths, and the Sahtu region had the third highest.

Rates of severe outcomes were five-and-a-half times greater in those infected with the Delta variant compared to the Omicron variant.