There are now 572 COVID-19 patients in Ontario intensive care units, a new high for the province. According to a doctor, Ontario hospitals may soon be required to implement a triage protocol.
Patients are already being transferred to SickKids via air ambulance. Ontario has issued emergency orders allowing hospitals to transfer patients without their consent to another hospital.” This is something that could happen very quickly. We need to get a head start on this”, a Toronto doctor has appealed to the federal and provincial governments for assistance.
According to Dr. Michael Warner, the GTA is in desperate need of ICU nurses to help care for patients who are already in the hospital and those who will be admitted in the coming days. In an effort to help increase ICU capacity in the city, Toronto’s SickKids Hospital has opened an eight-bed unit for adult COVID 19 patients.
Because of the alarming number of COVID19 patients in the ICU, Ontario hospitals were ordered to halt all elective surgeries. Due to an alarming number of patients in ICU beds, Ontario hospitals have been told to suspend elective surgery. “We know the Atlantic provinces have done a fantastic job because of their health-care policies and citizens’ sacrifice,” Warned said.
