Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is making efforts to provide more funding.
Despite being blocked in March 2020 and taking strict measures of social distancing, Toronto sees hospitals and intensive care units are close to capacity as the city struggles with its worst COVID-19 wave to date.
“Sick Kids, our premier children’s hospital, has had to open ICU beds for adults,” said Toronto physician Dr. Kayla Wolofsky. As of Thursday, strict home stay orders (people can only leave home for essential reasons) were back in place for at least 28 days.
This third increase is likely due to new virus variants, pandemic fatigue, community outreach as schools and stores reopen, as well as relatively slower vaccine deployment due to lack manufacturing capacity.
Although more than a third of all Americans have received at least one dose of vaccine, only half (15%) of Canadians, according to public health statistics from both countries.
“The combination of slow vaccine deployment and increasing variants has put incredible pressure on Ontario’s health systems and has unfortunately left public health departments with few options to control the spread,” he said. John Brownstein, director of innovation at Boston Children’s Hospital and contributor to ABC News.
According to epidemiologist Dr. Ashleigh Tuite from the University of Toronto, there are several variants that cause concern. Most cases in Ontario at this time are from strain B.1.1.7 (UK), but there have been some reported cases of strains P.1 (Brazil / Japan) and B.1351 (South Africa). .
“In terms of what’s happening in Ontario,” Tweet said, “variants of concern have become predominant: at this time, approximately 70% of reported cases have been identified as a variant of concern.”
Dr. Hiren Patel, an emergency physician in Toronto, added, “Increasing vaccinations and maintaining strict blocking guidelines may be the only way to prevent this wave from getting worse.”
Toronto residents have expressed frustration over the vaccine launch and its effect on their social lives, as well as employers with some restaurants, gyms, lounges and other non-essential services now closed for more than 300 days in a row.
“Toronto has experienced some of the most intense infection control measures of any city on the planet,” Brownstein said. “While blockages are ultimately the last resort when other measures fail and health care extends beyond capacity, we cannot ignore the economic and health side impacts.”
Some of these health impacts include the mental health of Toronto residents.
Elizabeth Whelan, a native of Toronto, said that “as far as high schools are concerned, all extracurriculars have been essentially canceled and children play games or exercise with their equipment at Zoom to try to maintain a human connection.”
Many believe that this latest blockade could have been avoided if the vaccine had been available before or spread in a different way, perhaps giving priority to more younger essential workers rather than just the elderly.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is making efforts to provide additional funding to help test and track contacts and has secured a $ 19 billion stimulus to restart the economy and provide continued support to Canadians.
Karine Tawagi, MD, a hematology and oncology fellow at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, is a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.