WINNIPEG -- Manitoba’s record-breaking COVID-19 numbers are having an impact on the province’s health-care system.
During Monday’s COVID-19 briefing, Lanette Siragusa, Shared Health’s chief nursing officer, provided an update on hospitalizations for COVID-19 and the number of ICU beds in Manitoba.
The province reported a record 543 new COVID-19 cases, and as of Monday morning, 296 people are in hospital with COVID-19.
“Our hospitals continue to fill with COVID patients, continuing to put a strain on our staff and the health system as a whole,” Siragusa said, noting the increase in hospitalizations is due to the high case numbers reported in the province in the past several weeks.
“As we continue to see these high case numbers, we know that we can expect them to come into hospital within a certain amount of time.”
As of midnight, 96 of the province’s 103 intensive care beds were being used, with 52 being used by active COVID-19 cases. Siragusa said 43 out of 79 patients on ventilators have COVID-19.
Siragusa said the province is treating people of all ages for COVID-19 in hospitals.
“While many people envision the elderly in our hospitals, and they certainly are there, specifically in our ICU, we also have young children, teenagers, and a number of people in our 20s and 30s,” she said. “We have COVID patients admitted in our pediatrics unit, in the obstetric units, and in the mental health unit."
“And I share this information in order to reinforce the reality that we are all susceptible to this virus, and we all need to be diligent and careful during these times.”
Siragusa added 901 non-urgent and elective surgeries have now been postponed or cancelled since the new restrictions took effect.
