Ontario COVID hospitalizations continue rising amid concerns over sixth wave

Seventy-six vaccination clinics are planned for 11 different TTC subway stations over the next couple of weeks. Mark McAllister reports on the city's reasons for continuing the effort to get people their shot.

By Nick Westoll and The Canadian Press

The Ontario government is reporting another day-over-day increase in COVID-19-related hospitalizations, bringing the total number of people in hospital to more than 800.

Ever since March 5, the number of hospital patients has been floating between 500 and 800 people. On Wednesday, there were 778 people in hospital while there were 790 the day before.

The increase in patients comes at a time when there are concerns about a sixth wave of COVID-19 cases in the province.

“We are seeing people coming in sick and many of them are in denial. I don’t think the numbers being captured are truly reflective of what’s going on,” Helen Wynter, a 17-year registered nurse, told CityNews, calling patient volumes in her emergency room last week “astounding.”


RELATED: Nurses brace for 6th wave of COVID-19 in Ontario


“We can’t handle emerging patients because all of our beds are taken up with patients admitted waiting for beds, and there are no beds, which means you’re sitting in a chair feeling just awful,” she said.

Despite the higher number of hospitalizations, intensive care unit admissions have been relatively stable. There are now 166 patients in ICUs, up by one from the day before. Of those patients, 93 are on ventilators — down by three from Wednesday’s data reporting. However, ICU admissions have been cited as a lagging indicator due to the progression of the virus.

Health Minister Christine Elliott maintained on Thursday the government is prepared to take further measures if necessary but that at this point “it doesn’t appear that we need to do that.”

“Dr. Moore is of the view that at this point, we are able to now learn to live with some continued cases of COVID, unfortunately it’s not going away completely just yet,” she said during a funding announcement in North York. “But we need to move on and continue with the opening of our economy, but also so that people can get back to a more normal way of life.”

Officials also reported six more deaths related to COVID-19, bringing the total number to 12,433.

There were also 3,139 new lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported on Thursday, elevating the cumulative total of cases to 1,162,609. But with restricted eligibility for PCR testing, the day-over-day number is believed to be an underrepresentation of the total number of COVID-19 cases in the province.

A vial of a plant-derived COVID-19 vaccine candidate, developed by Medicago, is shown in Quebec City on Monday, July 13, 2020, as part of the company’s Phase 1 clinical trials in this handout photo. PHOTO: THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Medicago *MANDATORY CREDIT*


NACI guidance on 4th vaccine dose expected soon: PHAC

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) is expected to release guidance on the fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the coming days.

A spokeswoman for the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) says the agency expects to publish NACI’s advice on fourth doses for “elderly populations at higher risk of severe disease” in early April.

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott, meanwhile, told legislators Thursday that she expects to receive advice from NACI imminently.

She says the advice will centre on which age groups should receive a fourth shot.

NACI previously recommended that people who are “moderately to severely immunocompromised” receive a fourth dose of the vaccine six months after getting their third shot.

The committee says that data on the fourth dose is currently limited, but those who are immunocompromised are at higher risk both of severe outcomes of COVID-19 and of decreasing protection over time.

Earlier this week, U.S. regulators approved a fourth dose for Americans 50 and older if it’s been at least four months since their last vaccination.


With files from Shauna Hunt and Meredith Bond

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today