'A catastrophic situation': COVID-19 threatens to overwhelm Canada's health system

[babylonsister]

No escape.


November 18, 20207:04 AM Updated 2 hours ago
'A catastrophic situation': COVID-19 threatens to overwhelm Canada's health system
By Rod Nickel, Moira Warburton, Allison Lampert
6 Min Read

WINNIPEG (Reuters) - In July, the Canadian province of Manitoba went two weeks without a single new case of COVID-19. Theaters and casinos reopened and children soon returned to school.

By October, the 1.4 million people living in a province only slightly smaller geographically than Texas had Canada’s highest rate of active cases - now 512 per 100,000 people, or nearly quadruple the national rate.

“In a couple of weeks, we’re going to be in a catastrophic situation,” said Dr. Anand Kumar, a Manitoba intensive care physician.

Many Americans looked longingly north of the border during the pandemic’s first wave, as Canada kept COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations under control while they skyrocketed in the United States. But Canadians’ exhaustion with pandemic restrictions is now coinciding with an outbreak that threatens to overwhelm health systems in several provinces.

Canada has recorded over 302,000 cases and more than 11,000 deaths during the pandemic. Nationally, there were 1,114 COVID-19 patients in hospital as of Nov. 3, well below a spring peak of 2,701 but double what they were a month ago.

At this pace, Canada’s daily case tally may more than double by early December, health officials warned last week.

more...

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-canada-hospitals-idUSKBN27Y1IH

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. It's overwhelming most health care systems.

And it's only going to get worse.

[Lock him up.]

2. Redneck "no-mask-wearing" western Canada should not be confused with...

Quebec where the population wears masks at large.

Most Quebec citizens are following guidelines and they are about to control their second wave.