COVID-19 hospitalizations are across Canada as a wave of fall infections sweeps through the population, according to recent data released by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).
The latest numbers aren’t cause for panic, infectious disease experts say, but they also can’t be ignored, especially since many hospitals across the country are already operating at or near full capacity.
“I don’t think there’s anything unforeseen in the sense that . . . we’re going to see a buildup of COVID-19 on the web as summer turns into fall, as we’ve noticed each and every year since COVID emerged. Dr. Isaac Bogoch, a clinical scientist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, told CTVNews. ca in a phone interview Monday.
“So we’re clearly seeing an increase in cases, and that’s reflected in an increase in hospitalizations. “
Canada recorded a total of 10,218 new COVID-19 cases from Oct. 1-7.
As of Oct. 10, COVID-19 patients occupied 3,797 hospital beds nationwide, the occupancy rate since last winter.
Since testing practices, sources of information and reporting to PHAC are not consistent across provinces or public fitness units, the firm cautioned that the data could be incomplete.
That’s one reason Bogoch says hospitalization numbers should be taken with caution and contextualized with other data.
“There is no single metric that tells the whole story. You have to use all the metrics we have, contextualize them to paint an accurate picture of what’s happening,” Bogoch said.
“If you look at the ratio of patients admitted to the ICU to patients admitted to wards, it’s a useful metric to look at the severity of COVID surges. “
The most recent data from PHAC, for example, shows that patients occupying beds outside the ICU account for the majority of the latest increase in hospitalizations nationally, while the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care and those on mechanical ventilation has risen modestly. , which means fewer people are getting seriously ill from the virus.
Graphs generated through Health Canada show the daily number of hospital beds and intensive care beds occupied by COVID-19 patients in Canada as of October 10, 2023. (Health Canada) Bogoch treats COVID-19 patients and publishes studies on infectious diseases. He said knowledge about hospitalization can also be inflated in cases where a positive COVID-19 result is incidental to the primary explanation for why a patient was hospitalized.
For example, an elderly patient admitted with injuries sustained in a fall that occurred one month after a COVID-19 infection may simply be included in that hospital’s COVID-19 admissions count, even if they were actively experiencing symptoms of an infection at the time. the time of admission.
“When you look at COVID-related hospitalizations, you include some that shouldn’t be included,” Bogoch said.
“COVID is bringing a lot of people to the hospital for reasons other than respiratory. But at the height of that, we know that there are a lot of accidental hospital admissions. And as someone who regularly admits other people to the hospital, it’s not clear. “
None of this means Canadians will be complacent about COVID-19 this fall, say Bogoch and Dr. Michael Curry, a clinical professor of emergency medicine at the University of British Columbia.
Each wave of COVID-19 infections and upcoming hospitalizations, no matter how small compared to past waves, tests the limits of understaffed hospitals and number one systems of care across the country.
“Today, COVID is rarely very close to what we saw in 2020 and 2021, even with this backlog of hospitalizations,” Bogoch said. “But it’s nothing either. This is an additional strain on an already overburdened fitness system. “And that’s why it’s a challenge and will continue to be so for years to come. “
Curry works at Delta Hospital in Delta, B. C. , and believes part of the challenge is getting hospitals to operate at enough capacity to meet needs under general conditions, with little or no reserves. During his time at Delta, he said the hospital had never reported a capacity point below 90 percent. Over the past 18 months, he said, that figure has hovered around 115 percent.
“Especially in Canada, compared to a lot of other countries around the world, we run our hospitals in a style that’s perfect,” Curry told CTVNews. ca in a phone interview Monday. “We don’t have excess capacity. Therefore, “We have enough to live in general times, which leaves us absolutely caught off guard in normal times. “
When hospitals find themselves understaffed during times of peak demand, one of the tactics they use is to temporarily close emergency rooms. This year alone, CTV News has exposed more than 1,284 cases in which a hospital emergency unit, normally located in a rural community, has been damaged. Closed for hours or days.
“A number of small and medium-sized hospitals have closed their emergency departments due to understaffing,” Curry said. “It’s a phenomenon that’s spreading across the country. “
Knowing that hospitals across the country are struggling to keep up with calls whenever COVID-19 cases rise and that, no matter how small, other people are still dying from the coronavirus, Curry and Bogoch said Americans continue to do whatever they want. can to help restrict the spread. COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses.
This includes staying up to date on COVID-19 and flu vaccines, staying home when sick, wearing a mask in crowded places, and maintaining smart hand hygiene.
– With files from CTV National News correspondent Avis Favaro
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