‘Another rough week ahead’: Ontario hospitalizations should stabilize next week, top doctor says

Ontario’s top doctor says the province can expect a few more tough days ahead as it continues to grapple with rising COVID-19 hospitalizations amid the sixth wave of the pandemic.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore said Ontarians should not underestimate the virus despite wastewater signals and daily infections appearing to have peaked last week.

“We have another rough week ahead of us,” said Moore while speaking with Breakfast Television Tuesday morning. “I ask all Ontarians to remain cautious because this virus is in all of our communities.”

Many of the province’s COVID indicators have plateaued or started to decline, but hospitalizations and ICU numbers continue to climb. Moore said he expects those numbers to stabilize at some point in the next week.

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“There’s a ripple effect as the virus makes its way through the community,” he said. “We anticipate hospitalizations and people having to be in the intensive care unit peaking in the next week as well”

As of Tuesday, hospitalizations in Ontario are up more than 16 per cent in the last week and have reached the highest point since Feb. 11.

Many hospitals were still not up to pre-pandemic surgery levels and are once again feeling the strain of the pandemic. The Toronto Star reported that 2,900 staff were off sick at the provinces 14 largest hospital systems last week.

Hospitals across the province have again been forced into delaying and cancelling non-emergency surgeries.

When asked if the province moved too soon on lifting mask mandates in most settings, including schools, Moore said he does not regret the decision to end masking requirements.

“We continue to provide masks within schools,” he said. “We absolutely are mask friendly and support individuals who want to wear masks.”

The province recently extended its mask mandate in health-care settings, long-term care homes, shelters and public transit until June 11. It was originally set to expire on April 27. Masking requirements in all other settings were lifted on March 1 — prior to the recent surge of sixth wave infections.

The province’s COVID-19 science advisory table released new modelling two weeks ago that outlined “significant uncertainty” around the impact of case growth on the provincial health system and deaths. The panel noted then that hospitalizations would likely continue to increase for some time.

Head of the science table, Dr. Peter Juni, said last week that a jump in infections is expected two weeks following the recent holiday weekend, but it would likely be small.

Moore touts boosters as best way to fight sixth wave

Moore said the best way to fight the virus is for residents to get their first or second booster shots as soon as possible.

He said elder members of the community continue to be the main demographic driving up hospital and ICU numbers.

“The key message to those individuals is come get your booster dose,” said Moore. “We all need to stay up to date with our immunization if we’re going to be protected against severe outcomes.”

He said 75 per cent of Ontarians 50 and older have received their first booster and 25 per cent of those 80 and up have gotten a second booster dose.

The Canadian Medical Association Journal came out with new modelling research that suggested the risk for vaccinated individuals is being driven up by their interactions with those who have not gotten a shot.

“Unvaccinated it would make sense that they could shed more virus for a longer period of time and be more infectious,” said Moore.

In Toronto, City officials announced more than 50,000 appointments were opened at its mass vaccination clinics. Toronto Public Health also added 5,000 appointments to administer school-based vaccines to students in Grades seven to 12 who have missed starting their vaccine series over the past two years.