More COVID-19 patients in the ICU, GTA hospitals feeling the pressure

The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to put more and more pressure on health care systems in Ontario.

With GTA hospitals beginning to overflow, health officials and medical professionals are sounding the alarm.

The latest provincial numbers have 656 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19.

Nearly 30 percent of those patients, 183, are currently in the ICU. Officials have consistently set 150 as the threshold for concern. A higher number meaning increased pressure and the threat of hospitals needing to cancel surgeries.

The head of the Ontario Hospital Association, Anthony Dale, believes the situation has now become serious in provincial hotspots. He says that approximately 25 percent of people in the ICU in Toronto and Peel are COVID-19 patients.

“A very worrisome situation,” he says. “It places pressure, not only on the intensive care unit itself, but on all the other things that a hospital has to do during a pandemic.”

Dale says hospitals in the GTA have already begun to make difficult decisions to cancel scheduled surgeries.

While cancelled procedures are often elective, the overcrowded ICU’s can also mean putting off scheduled operations that can be a matter of life or death.

“It can actually be a surgery or a procedure that’s necessary to save someones life,” says Dale. “It might be cancer related, it might be cardiac related, it actually can even be organ transplants.”

Hospital capacity has been an issue in COVID-19 hot spots, such as Peel Region, for weeks, but those pressures have also spread to other areas.

The Grand River Hospital in Waterloo Region paused elective surgeries this week after its intensive care unit reached capacity.

In Windsor-Essex, the Windsor Regional Hospital said high patient numbers were challenging the entire regional health-care system and had made it necessary to impose strict visitor restrictions in an effort to reduce transmission of the virus.

NDP Legislator Catherine Fife, who represents a Waterloo riding, pressed the government Wednesday for further resources to bolster hospitals.

“What is the premier going to do to ensure that our hospitals have the support they need to get through this crisis? Do it now, we’re at the tipping point,” she said.

Health Minister Christine Elliott insisted that hospitals are not in crisis because the province has allocated money for new beds. She said while Ontario’s numbers are nothing to brag about, the province is flattening the curve.

“Ontario is not in crisis right now,” Elliott said. “You want to speak about who is in crisis … we’re taking a look at Alberta where they’re doubling up patients in intensive care units. We’re not doing that in Ontario.”

Liberal House Leader John Fraser slammed Elliott for the remark, and said the province should be focused on its response at home.

“What’s she going to do next, compare us with South Dakota?” he said.

With modelling projecting a continued increase in cases, the situation for hospitals is likely only going to get worse in the coming weeks before there is any improvement.

Toronto dropped to 410 new cases on Wednesday after record-breaking numbers the two previous days. It’s now been just over a week since the city went into provincial ordered ‘lockdown.’ Peel, the other region in lockdown, reported 500 new cases in the latest report.

It’s estimated to take 14 days to see if the new restrictions have had any sort of impact on the numbers.

There were 1,723 new cases of COVID-19 reported across the province on Wednesday.

Files from The Canadian Press were used in this report