Hospitals in Canada’s most populous province are canceling surgeries, transferring patients, and preparing for possible rational care because they are facing an increase in Covid-19 variants that puts more pressure on Ontario’s health care system than in Ontario. any other moment in recent history.
Since Monday, the number of adult Covid-19 patients in intensive care units has increased by 44% since the beginning of the month, to 623, according to data compiled by Critical Care Services Ontario. About two-thirds of these patients were on ventilators. Previously, the number of patients with Covid-19 in critical care beds reached a maximum of 415 in mid-January.
“It’s really the battle of a lifetime,” said Anthony Dale, head of the Ontario Hospitals Association, an advocacy group for 141 hospitals operating in the province. “I’m pretty afraid of what the next few weeks will look like.”
The situation in Ontario, where almost 40% of the Canadian population lives, contrasts with that in many US states, where vaccinations have been administered at a faster rate. The Canadian average of seven days of cases confirmed by Covid-19 recently eclipsed the US per capita, for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. Hospitals in adjacent states of New York and Michigan are also increasing Covid-19 hospitalizations, but are under less pressure compared to past waves of infection.
The crisis in Canada is due to the rise of new cases of the highly contagious variant in the UK, along with the slow launch of the vaccine. The problem is compounded by the province’s low number of acute hospital beds, which have remained constant over the past two decades, despite a growing population.