Canada’s health care system buckling as governments reject measures to contain COVID-19
As COVID-19 infections continue to rise across Canada, dire warnings about the health care system’s inability to cope are growing. The number of intensive care patients in Ontario’s hospitals surpassed the peak of the first wave of the pandemic Monday and is fast approaching the level at which Doug Ford’s provincial government has acknowledged that it will be impossible to maintain adequate health care for those suffering from other illnesses or injuries.
There were 285 COVID-19 patients in Ontario intensive care units as of December 21, more than the 283 recorded at the high point during the spring. When COVID-19 intensive care patients surpass 300, which is set to occur within the next 10 days, health authorities say that they will no longer be able to guarantee regular levels of care for other patients.
ANALYSIS: What COVID-19 has taught us about managing a crisis.
Author of the article: Philip Authier • Montreal Gazette
Publishing date: Dec 24, 2020 • December 24, 2020 • 5 minute read • It was a lot of uncertainty, Premier François Legault said when asked about the year that was. I can tell you, especially in the first few months, we didn t know where it would go. Photo by Ryan Remiorz /The Canadian Press
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QUEBEC – If leading Quebec is always an exercise in managing the unexpected, Premier François Legault has has had his fill over the last 10 months.
For the 300 days or so since the first case of COVID-19 was declared in Quebec, he and his government have been in the hot seat on a daily basis.
Masks Quebec issued to 15,000 daycares fail safety check, staff ordered to toss them
Between May and November, the Quebec government distributed tens of millions of MC9501 masks to the province s daycares. It turns out, they re not as safe as they should be, and daycares have been ordered to throw them away as soon as possible.
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Posted: Dec 23, 2020 8:57 AM ET | Last Updated: December 23, 2020
The Quebec government has ordered daycares across the province to stop using the blue, disposable MC9051 mask. About 28 million of them have been shipped since May. (Mélissa Savoie-Soulières/Radio-Canada)
COVID-19 vaccination effort ramps up in Quebec, doses available in 21 locations provincewide
Five of the new vaccination centres are in Montreal and several more in the surrounding area, such as the Laurentians and Montérégie.
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Posted: Dec 21, 2020 5:00 AM ET | Last Updated: December 21, 2020
A COVID-19 vaccination centre at the CHSLD Lionel-Émond in Gatineau, Que., is ready to inoculate health workers and senior citizens.(Olivier Plante/Radio-Canada)
Posted: Dec 19, 2020 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: December 19, 2020
CHSLD Lionel-Émond in Gatineau, Que., is one of the region s largest long-term care homes. Staff and residents at the home will begin receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine next week, public health officials say.(Radio-Canada)
Nearly 600 residents and staff at CHSLD Lionel-Émond in Gatineau, Que., one of the largest long-term care facilities in the Outaouais, should begin receiving a COVID-19 vaccine next week, according to the region s public health authority.
Unlike Ontario, where hospitals are administering the first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to front-line staff, Quebec has chosen to send its allocation directly to long-term care facilities so residents can also be inoculated.