Nova Scotia’s top COVID-19 critical care doctor says the hospital system is on the brink of being overwhelmed by the number of patients requiring medical care during the third wave of the pandemic.
The province has reported triple-digit case counts five days in a row, with a record-breaking 175 new cases Wednesday.
There are now 1,203 active cases and 40 people in hospital. Nine of those hospitalized are in the intensive care unit.
“The modelling does suggest that we will have to increase our bed stock for ICU … if the numbers continue and we can’t flatten that curve by following that public health messaging,” said Dr. Tony O’Leary, medical director of critical care for Nova Scotia Health.
On Tuesday, the province reported a woman in her 50s and a man in his 70s died at home from COVID-19 complications.
It speaks to the severity of the virus and how quickly it can progress, said the province’s top doctor.
During a briefing on Tuesday, Dr. Robert Strang suggested the province is at a critical point in the outbreak.
“I don’t disagree at all with Dr. O’Leary. This is a critical point,” Strang said.
“People need to understand how serious this is and the implications for our collective health and well-being and if they somehow haven’t clued into that, I don’t know what else to do. We’ve been hammering that message, the premier and I, for the last few days.”
At the moment, the province has 250 ventilators. O’Leary says there are 10 patients currently on ventilators and bed capacity can be increased as needed.
However, the challenge is that as more COVID-19 admissions come into the hospitals, that puts pressure on staff. It then becomes a human resource issue.
“We can probably get up to near 200 beds or just over if needed,” O’Leary said.
“The current modelling doesn’t suggest we’ll need to get there but this I think will be about staffing models and getting the appropriate staff available rather than, say, ventilators or numbers of beds.”
Both doctors are urging Nova Scotians to do their part and follow health restrictions to ease the burden on the health-care system.
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