Who's at the greatest risk of being hospitalized by COVID-19? New Public Health data breaks it down

New data from Newfoundland and Labrador's Department of Health highlights who is at the greatest risk of severe health outcomes due to COVID-19 as the province aims to lift all public health restrictions later this month. According to the data provided to CBC News last week, 138 people were admitted to hospital due to COVID-19 from Dec. 15, deemed the beginning of the province's Omicron wave, to Feb. 28. For comparison, Newfoundland and Labrador reported more than 24,000 cases of the virus in that period but the actual number is much higher, as not all positive cases in the province were reported to public health. The data is broken down into two categories: age and vaccination status. Sixty-seven of the 138 hospitalizations, or about 49 per cent, were people over the age of 70. Additionally, 23 people were in their 60s, 26 were in their 50s, six were in their 40s, four were between the ages of 20 and 39 and 12 people were under the age of 20.