Mobile health unit being built at Sunnybrook hospital
Posted March 10, 2021 9:21 am.
Last Updated March 10, 2021 10:27 am.
The Ontario Minister of Health has confirmed a mobile health unit is being set up on the grounds of Sunnybrook hospital after preparations for the unit were spotted on Tuesday.
The mobile health unit set up in a parking lot will be completed in early April and will be used if additional capacity support is needed.
“Our government, in partnership with the federal government, continues to plan, prepare, and take the necessary actions to protect the health and safety of Ontarians during the COVID-19 pandemic,” a spokesperson for Health Minister Christine Elliott said in a statement.
The ministry added that the unit will allow the healthcare system to remain flexible during the pandemic and “ensure that specialized resources, such as intensive care, are available in hospitals for those who need it most.”
As of the province’s daily COVID-19 update on Tuesday, there are 689 people hospitalized in the province with 290 of those patients in the ICU. Of those cases, more than a third of the hospitalized cases are in Toronto (256) and 53 people are in the ICU.
Toronto’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen De Villa said in a briefing on Monday that almost 40 per cent of reported cases in the city have screened positive for a more contagious variant of concern.
The variants of concern are approximately 50 per cent more transmissible and linked to more severe disease outcomes. Canada’s Chief Public Officer of Health Dr. Theresa Tam has said the variants could fuel a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
