Sick children are flooding Ontario emergency rooms with COVID-like symptoms in ‘dramatic increase’

There appears to be a surge in the number of children admitted to emergency rooms with serious symptoms of COVID-19 — some reporting the highest number of visits since the pandemic began years ago.

In the last two weeks provincewide, 89 children have been hospitalized. The recent spike in children-related infections comes in Ontario as another Canadian province, Québec, restored its mask mandate. That is leading to growing calls for the Ford government to do the same.

“We’re seeing kids who are having high fevers. Kids where it’s painful for them to breathe and some kids that need oxygen supplementation,” Toronto ER physician Dr. Brett Belchetz said in an interview with CityNews.

Many emergency departments across the GTA are experiencing a steady flow of young children, primarily unvaccinated, with COVID-like symptoms.

Currently, there is no COVID-19 vaccination for those under five.

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Dr. Steve Flindall, an ER physician in York Region, believes removing Ontario’s mask mandate in indoor settings — including schools — leads to COVID-19 being more easily transmitted amongst younger children.

“The schools went back to in-person, which, sooner or later, we knew they were going to do,” Flindall said. “We saw a rise, and since they dropped the mask mandates, it’s really been a dramatic increase.”

McMaster’s Children’s Hospital in Hamilton tells CityNews that more than 1,600 children with COVID-19 concerns visited the ER in the first two months of 2022. The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) is so overwhelmed that there is a prompted message on its website that warns of heavy volumes.

Belchetz says similar stories are playing out in Toronto pediatric hospitals, acknowledging that in some cases, while children admitted weren’t all dealing with severe bouts of illness, it was enough for parents to rush them to an ER to get professional help.

“The vast majority of the kids that are coming in are not getting admitted. A lot of them are very lethargic. They’re not eating or drinking well. They have fevers and are out for the count for several days straight,” he said.

“I have seen many of my colleagues picking up COVID from their children, who are now picking it up in schools,” he adds. “We’re seeing a lot of my colleagues that can’t work now because they have picked up [the virus] from their own families.”

Ontario ended mask mandates in most public spaces two weeks ago, with the exception of public transit and health-care settings such as hospitals and long-term care homes. Photo courtesy: CityNews.

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CHEO says that three-quarters of all admissions of children have happened since December 1. Meanwhile, SickKids in Toronto and McMaster combined have admitted 448 kids to the hospital between January and March 2022, with 75 young children in the ICU.

“I would say to any parent thinking about this, while the averages are in your favour — if you have a healthy kid, averages are they’re probably going to be OK,” Belchetz said. “But unpredictably, we don’t know which kids that are presumed healthy could end up with a very bad outcome.”

Premier Doug Ford on Monday called the rise in cases “a little spike” that the province anticipated. Health Minister Christine Elliott repeated that message on Tuesday.

“It’s not unanticipated that this would happen. This is something that when you’re opening up the province to the degree that we have, and with the transmissibility of this virus, that we expected to see the numbers increase,” Elliott said.

Flindall calls this the beginning of another COVID-19 wave.

“Tidal waves always look small at first but when they crash down on your head, they don’t look so small anymore.”

Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health has been absent from the public eye for about a month. CityNews has reached out on several occasions requesting an interview with Dr. Kieran Moore but has not heard back.

On Tuesday, Québec and Prince Edward Island extended their provincial mask mandates until later this month as they try to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Québec, Ontario and British Columbia plan on expanding access to fourth doses of COVID-19 vaccines as the National Advisory Committee on Immunization said all provinces and territories should prepare to start offering boosters.

With files from the Canadian Press