Ontario's steady rise in COVID-19 burdens hospitals with surge in ICU admissions

#Ontario, #SurgeInCovid19Cases; #HospitalsOverburdened; #ReschedulingSurgeries; #ICUs

Ontario, Oct 09 (Canadian-Media): Ontario's continuous rising in the COVD-19 cases in the last few weeks, with a record high of nearly 940 new cases on Oct 9 requiring more patients to be treated and hospitalized has alarmed clinicians at several already-overflowing hospital sites as well as added pressure to reschedule surgeries put off during the pandemic's first wave, media reports said.

ICU beds. Image credit: Wikimedia commons

The data obtained by CBC News from the report prepared Oct 8 by Critical Care Services Ontario reported eight new patients across the province were admitted by end-of-day Oct 7 to Ontario intensive care units (ICUs), that's a high Ontario hospitals haven't hit since June 4.
 
'You've got people backing up into the emergency department and hallway medicine getting worse,' said Dr. Brooks Fallis, division head and medical director of critical care at William Osler Health System. 'And that becomes very, very problematic in a pandemic situation,' reported by CBC News.

On top of that Ontario hospitals have experienced shortage of healthcare workers as several of them being absent as they awaited their own results of COVD-19 tests.

There have been increased calls by Ontario physicians as well as Toronto public health officials for the quick crucial implementation of month-long closures of hot spots like indoor dining and gyms for the sake of the hospital system.