But many of Canada’s health workers have warned that some provincial governments have reopened too quickly after a difficult resurgence after Christmas.
“We are therefore stuck where things are out of control, hospitals are completely full, not enough vaccine is available and months of difficult social health measures lie ahead,” said Dr. Michael Warner, director of critical care at Michael Garron Hospital in Toronto, told CNN.
Provincial governments across the country are now counting on a damaging third wave of Covid-19 that could harm the universal health care system that Canadians are so proud of.
And nowhere in Canada is the hospital as critical as in Ontario, the country with the largest population.
‘The government did not listen to scientists, they did not listen to epidemiologists, they did not listen to doctors other than their medical chief of health. And because they did not listen to scientists, they thought they could negotiate the virus themselves. But the virus is too strong, the variant is another disease, “Warner said before adding that his ICU was working at 115% on Friday.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford defended his actions Friday when he announced new restrictions, including staying home until at least mid-May, the inside and outside ban meeting, and non-essential travel to and from the province.
At a news conference Friday, Ford insisted he had always acted according to science, adding that in the case of recent rising admissions to critical care, he had drafted the stricter public health policy ‘the second’ he invented.
“Whatever we put in place, it will take time to take effect. At the moment, the trajectories of Covid increases are really baked in, and I think the next two to three weeks for Ontario and Canada are going to be very, very , tough, “says dr. Fahad Razak, who treated coronavirus patients in the St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.
On Saturday, Ontario again broke new records for hospital admissions as well as the ICU. The modeling launched by the province’s advisory panel on Friday gave a serious picture of the crisis already taking place in hospitals and how the situation could probably get worse.
“Note that our hospitals can no longer function normally – they are bursting at the seams,” said Dr. Adalsteinn Brown, Ontario’s co-chair of scientific advice, said. “We’re setting up field hospitals and we’re separating critically ill patients from their families by helicopter them across the province for care. Our children’s hospitals now allow adults as patients. This has never happened in Ontario. It has never happened before. ‘s not happening in Canada before. ‘
Brown was remarkably blunt about the worst-case scenario: Ontario could be forced to take care of rations, especially for critical care places.
“There just might not be the ability to put it in these types of beds,” Brown said.
Healthcare workers are very angry about the situation, Warner said.
“We will be there, we will do our best, but I am trained to save people, not to use a checklist to decide whether people are going to live or die. But it is us on the way, and it is mine biggest fear, ‘Warner said.
In most of Canada, the epidemiological data was worrying. The exception was the Atlantic provinces that created a bubble, with some of the lowest prices of Covid-19 in all of North America,
Health Canada reported a 35% increase in hospitalizations – and a more than 20% increase in ICU admissions across Canada in the week ending April 11. More disturbing is the mortality trend, with a 38% increase in deaths in the past week alone.
In many of Canada’s largest cities, essential workers in factories, meat processing plants, and distribution centers have suffered dangerous outbreaks.
Dozens of doctors in Ontario have demanded on social media that these workers have safer working conditions and easy access to sick pay when they contract the virus or are tested for it.
Most provinces – including British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec – are starting to focus on these workplaces and community points with mobile testing and vaccination clinics.
“It’s clearly a crisis, we’re in the middle of a crisis now. It’s not a week away – we’re in it right now,” Razak said.