Hospitals in Canada’s most populous province are canceling surgeries, transferring patients and preparing for the possible need to attend rations as they face an increase in Covid-19 variants that is pushing harder. the Ontario health care system that at no other time in recent history.
As of Monday, the number of adult Covid-19 patients in intensive care beds had increased by 44% from the beginning of the month to 623, according to data collected by Critical Care Services Ontario. About two-thirds of these patients wore ventilators. Previously, the number of patients with Covid-19 in critical care beds had peaked at 415 by mid-January.
“It’s really the battle of a lifetime,” said Anthony Dale, head of the Ontario Hospital Association, a advocacy group for 141 hospitals operating in the province. “I’m afraid of what the coming weeks will be like.”
The situation in Ontario, where almost 40% of the Canadian population lives, contrasts with that of many states in the United States, where vaccines have been administered at a faster rate. The Canadian average of seven confirmed days of Covid-19 cases recently eclipsed the U.S. per capita for the first time since the early days of the pandemic. Hospitals in the adjacent states of New York and Michigan are also experiencing an increase in Covid-19 hospitalizations, but are under less pressure compared to past waves of infection.
The crisis in Canada is due to an increase in new cases of the highly contagious variant of the UK, along with a slow deployment of the vaccine. The problem is accompanied by the low number of hospital beds for acute care in the province, which have remained constant over the past two decades despite population growth.