ICU doctor cautiously optimistic about looming impact of 4th COVID-19 wave in Manitoba
A Manitoba critical care doctor and infectious diseases specialist remains cautiously optimistic when it comes to the impact of the fourth wave in Manitoba.
It comes as Alberta and Saskatchewan deal with a surge in cases and capacity issues in hospitals.
Dr. Anand Kumar points to Manitoba’s move earlier this summer to reintroduce mask mandates and proof of vaccination requirements and the percentage of eligible Manitobans who are fully vaccinated but he said we’re not out of the woods yet.
“I think we are going to see an increase in activity but my hope is that it will be sufficiently blunted,” he said. “That we don’t see the kind of overwhelming hospital strain and ICU strain that they’re seeing in Alberta and Saskatchewan and that we saw, frankly, back in May and June.”
During the third wave Manitoba’s health system was so overwhelmed, 57 patients requiring critical care had to be sent to either Ontario, Saskatchewan or Alberta.
Now, Saskatchewan and Alberta are dealing with a spike in hospitalizations and not enough beds to care for patients who are mostly unvaccinated.
Kumar said as a health-care provider he’d like to be able to help those two provinces in their time of crisis.
“I think everybody here very much wants to help our friends and neighbours in Alberta but as to whether we can make much of an impact, given where we are, I think that’s very much in question and the powers that be are going to have to make that decision,” Kumar said. “But I have no doubt that every doctor, every nurse, everybody who works in the hospital would very much like to help, if we’re able to.”
Even without a drastic spike in COVID-19 patients, numbers show Manitoba’s intensive care units are already stretched beyond normal capacity.
As of midnight, Shared Health said Thursday there were a total of 81 patients in ICUs with 14 of those patients receiving care for COVID-19. Provincial data shows only one of those patients is fully vaccinated. Before the pandemic, the normal baseline capacity for the critical care system was 72 patients.
So far Manitoba isn’t assisting with surge capacity in the other prairie provinces. Paul Merriman, Saskatchewan’s health minister, said in a statement the province has created its own surge capacity while Alberta will receive assistance from the federal government.
A Manitoba government spokesperson said Thursday conversations are ongoing between provincial health officials and at this point in time Manitoba is offering pharmaceutical assistance to Alberta.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Remembering legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole. Oh baby, what a life
Bob Cole, a welcome voice for Canadian hockey fans for a half-century, has died at the age of 90. Cole died Wednesday night in St. John's, N.L., surrounded by his family, his daughter, Megan Cole, told the CBC.
Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction overturned by N.Y. appeals court
New York's highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction, reversing a landmark ruling of the #MeToo era in determining the trial judge improperly allowed women to testify about allegations against the ex-movie mogul that weren't part of the case.
Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
'Deep ignorance': Calls for Manitoba trustee to resign sparked after comments about Indigenous people and reconciliation
A rural Manitoba school trustee is facing calls to resign over comments he made about Indigenous people and residential schools earlier this week.
CTE: Researchers believe widespread brain injury may contribute to veteran suicide rate
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.