B.C. turns down Alberta's call for COVID-19 help amid serious hospital crunch
A day after one of Alberta’s top health officials announced that that province’s COVID-19 health-care crisis necessitated a cross-country call for help, British Columbia’s health minister has responded to say B.C. simply can’t handle helping anyone else.
On Wednesday, Alberta declared a public health emergency and Premier Jason Kenney apologized for ignoring the warnings of experts and lifting nearly all public health measures over the summer, a decision that led to a surge in COVID-19 cases now that threatens to overwhelm staffed intensive care beds within 10 days.
“We are taking two extremely difficult steps: We will be reaching out to other provinces to see if they have any available ICU space where Albertans could get the care that they need, as well as asking them if they have skilled frontline staff who may be willing to come to Alberta to assist us,” said Alberta Health Services president and CEO Dr. Verna Yiu at the news conference where the public health emergency was declared.
“We remain hopeful that it will not come to this, as we continue to add critical care capacity.”
On Thursday, CTV News Vancouver asked the ministry of health whether B.C. would be able to help its neighbouring province, but the answer was “no.”
“Given the current demands on B.C.’s health-care system, we will not be able to assist with taking patients at this time,” said B.C. Minister of Health Adrian Dix in an email statement.
“If we can take patients on in the future, we will.”
Ontario, which has far fewer active COVID-19 cases than all of Western Canada on a per-capita basis, has offered to assist Alberta.
ICUS IN B.C. STRUGGLING TO HANDLE LOCAL PATIENTS
Frontline health-care workers who spoke with CTV News aren’t surprised the province had to turn down the request for assistance, painting a picture of intensive care units that are struggling to handle the influx of local COVID-19 patients.
In Northern Health, in particular, the situation is so dire that one doctor described the system as “close to collapse.”
Rather than one-on-one care for critically ill patients, nurses are now working in teams with multiple patients for each nurse; there are concerns patients are not receiving the level of care they require, and the stress on those who work is said to be contributing to nurses avoiding or refusing ICU shifts.
Some nurses have left the profession altogether. Others have stepped away from full-time work to take on-call shifts where they aren’t pressured to work as much overtime and can take on as much work as they want.
Doctors and nurses alike describe the growing staff shortages and protests in front of hospitals as fraying nerves further, at a time more COVID-19 patients – the vast majority of them unvaccinated – are needing medical care.
All who spoke to CTV News expressed deep regret and frustration that so many people needing medical care for health issues unrelated to the pandemic are having to wait, sometimes to deadly effect.
ONTARIO NOW OUTPERFORMING WESTERN CANADA WITH CAUTIOUS APPROACH
The Public Health Agency of Canada COVID-19 dashboard illustrates in stark contrast how provinces’ different pandemic management approaches and philosophies are playing out.
In Ontario, where there are more safety measures for schools and a mask mandate for indoor public spaces remained in place through the summer, there are currently 42 active cases per 100,000 people. There are 121 in British Columbia and 423 in Alberta, with 345 per 100,000 in Saskatchewan.
Alberta’s top doctor hinted that the poor performance of western provinces compared to Ontario may not be coincidence, describing discussions between the provinces as they all lifted public health measures (to varying degrees) at the start of the summer.
“The three western provinces all moved to release restrictions,” said Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, adding her decision was based, in part, on discussions with colleagues.
“All of us were looking at the data, and all of us believed that we would see a decoupling, similar to what was seen in the U.K. “
While the proportion of confirmed infections compared to hospitalizations is lower than in previous waves, the fourth wave has still seen an influx of COVID-19 patients to hospital needing oxygen support and, sometimes, ventilated machine breathing.
And, while health officials are now keen to point out the majority of infections are in unvaccinated people, in order to encourage everyone to get the protection resulting from full vaccination, B.C. experts had warned months ago that lifting restrictions too early amid the ultra-contagious Delta variant could see a pandemic fuelled by those who had no protection and were much more likely to end up in hospital.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
They were from different countries and barely spoke each other's languages. More than 20 years later, they're still happily in love
He decided to spend Christmas somewhere that wouldn't involve snowstorm disasters. She was spending the holidays with family, travelling for the first time outside of her native country of Venezuela. 23 years later, they're still in love.
Man who set himself on fire outside Trump trial dies of injuries, police say
A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former U.S. President Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said.
Verdun Airbnb listing taken down amid complaints, fines and frustration from neighbours
An Airbnb in Montreal's Verdun borough was the source of much frustration from neighbours who say there were constant parties at the location. It has been taken down from the app, but housing advocates remain upset about short-term rentals.
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
12 students and teacher killed in Columbine school shooting remembered at 25th anniversary vigil
Thirteen victims of the Columbine High School shooting were remembered during a vigil Friday on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the shooting that was the worst the nation had seen at the time.
Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza city of Rafah kills at least 9 Palestinians, including 6 children
An Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza's southernmost city killed at least nine people, six of them children, hospital authorities said Saturday, as Israel pursued its nearly seven-month offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Mandisa, Grammy award-winning 'American Idol' alum, dead at 47
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.
Iraq investigates a blast at a base of Iran-allied militias that killed 1. U.S. denies involvement
Iraqi authorities said Saturday that they were investigating an explosion that struck a base belonging to the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of Iran-allied militias, killing one person and injuring eight.
The House is on the brink of approving aid for Ukraine and Israel after months of struggle
The House is preparing in a rare Saturday session to approve US$95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies.