1 hr 22 min ago
Canada's third wave on track to become its worst yet as Covid-19 hospitalizations spike
From CNN’s Paula Newton
The field hospital in the parking lot of Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, Wednesday, March 31. Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press/AP
Canada says its third wave of the pandemic is now more serious than the previous two, as hospitalizations and critical care admissions spike, and the vaccine rollout is unlikely to change things over the next few weeks.
“The end is definitely in sight but we’re not there yet. This third wave is more serious and we need to hang in there for another few weeks to make sure that we can flatten that curve, drop those numbers down again, to give a chance for vaccines to take hold,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said during a news conference in Ottawa Friday.
The situation is most serious in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, where officials say the province is close to its "worst case scenario" projections for the third wave. The province came dangerously close on Friday to shattering a record for a single day increase in cases and has already set a record this week for intensive care unit (ICU) admissions related to Covid-19.
“We’re seeing more and more young people being admitted to hospital with Covid-19. So to young people: There are more contagious and more serious variants out there, even if you’re younger, you can get sick very, very quickly,” Trudeau warned.
Ontario imposed a province-wide stay-at-home order Thursday but restrictions have only moderately decreased new infections, despite the fact that cities like Toronto have been in some form of lockdown since late November.
“I can understand the frustration, the anxiety, the concern that Canadians right across the country are feeling in seeing these numbers rise, I share it. I think we’re all recognizing that we don’t want to be in this third wave but we’re here,” Trudeau said.
Across the country, Canadian health officials say ICU admissions are up more than 20% in the last week alone as all of Canada’s most populous provinces cope with a third wave more threatening to the healthcare system than the last two.
“Right now my concern is, the thing to me is the ICUs filling up, not just hospitalizations, because there is an absolute limit to ICU capacity not necessarily because of equipment but because of people,” Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s top doctor, said speaking alongside Trudeau during Friday’s news conference.
Although Canada broke a record this week for vaccine doses administered, Tam said the vaccine rollout will not slow the rapid epidemic growth in cases, as more contagious variants spread throughout the country.