Manitoba’s chief nursing officer told a courtroom Wednesday that nurses and hospital staff were exhausted while they faced hard choices during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic last October.
Lanette Siragusa was questioned about the pressures on hospital staff while case numbers were surging in Manitoba last fall.
She was also asked about the effects on hospitals due to mental-health issues and addictions during the pandemic.
Siragusa gave testimony as the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, which represents seven rural Manitoba churches, opposes the public health restrictions in place for more than a year as the world battles COVID-19.
Siragusa is well-known to Manitobans, having spent months in front of the cameras to provide updates on the state of the province’s hospitals during restrictions and lockdowns.
>Court heard provincial health officials had been in contact with physicians in Wuhan, China, early last year when the pandemic was emerging to talk about what was happening in hospitals there.
Siragusa said they began to make plans knowing that infections could put intense pressure on health care in Manitoba.
She was questioned about strain on hospitals, specifically on intensive care capacity. Jared Brown, a lawyer for the churches, questioned why Siragusa cited 72 intensive care beds when asked about capacity prior to the pandemic, when data he was provided by the province said there were 86.
She responded the extra beds were specifically for cardiac patients.
Brown also questioned Siragusa about a delay in 16,000 elective surgeries.
The chief nursing officer responded that medical experts and surgeons were making decisions about which surgeries to delay and there were no public health orders to that effect.
“Those were really hard decisions that we had to make as a health system and it was not comfortable for anyone,” she said.
Local virologist Jason Kindrachuk, who advises on curbing the spread of COVID-19, was also called to the stand Wednesday.
Brown presented Kindrachuk with passages of his own reports, written early on or before the pandemic, that discussed the unintended consequences of stringent public health measures.
Kindrachuk responded that in light of developing research, he may revisit some of his stances.
The eight-day hearing began Monday, with Church of God Restoration minister Tobias Tissen saying his church has allowed Sunday worship despite past and current health orders.
Tissen confirmed he has attended “freedom” rallies in other provinces and come back without self-isolating, and does not enforce social distancing or mask rules among his followers.
“We can’t force anyone to wear a mask,” Tissen told the courtroom.
“We are not counting and we have no authority, scripturally based and based on Christian convictions, to limit anyone from coming to hear the word of God.”
Current restrictions limit gatherings to 25 per cent of capacity or 10 people, whichever is smaller. Over the past several months, the Church of Restoration, located outside of Steinbach, has been fined more than $40,000 for holding services contrary to public health orders.
-with files from the Canadian Press