TORONTO There are now more COVID-19 patients in Ontario’s intensive care units than at any other point during the pandemic as concerns continue to mount around the health-care system’s ability to withstand the strain. The latest Critical Care Services Ontario report obtained by CP24 suggests that there were 285 COVID-19 patients in intensive care as of Dec. 21, exceeding the first wave peak of 283 for the first time. Nearly 40 per cent of all COVID-19 patients being treated in intensive care as of Dec. 21 were located in the Central health region, which covers a wide swath of territory that includes hospitals in Peel, Halton and York regions. Another 64 of the COVID patients in the ICU were in Toronto hospitals, including 21 at Toronto General Hospital and 11 at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.
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Dr. Pamela Valentine is president and CEO of the MS Society of Canada. Dr. Anthony Feinstein is a leading MS researcher at the University of Toronto and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been tough. Canadians have suffered through mental-health strain, loss of employment income and uncertainty. Others have been ill, hospitalized and not all have come back from hospital. But the pandemic has been exceptionally hard on people living with chronic and episodic illnesses such as multiple sclerosis (MS), a debilitating disease that can take away so much – mobility, independence, income and a pain-free life.