The head of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) is anticipating a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases as the Omicron variant has taken hold in the province.
Saskatchewan reported a record 913 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, the majority of which are a result of Omicron, according to provincial health officials.
“We know that there’s going to be an onslaught (of people in hospital),” said SUN president Tracy Zambory on Global News Morning.
Hospitalization has long been considered a lagging indicator of COVID-19, meaning a surge in patients can come weeks after a surge in cases.
Early indications suggest that on an individual level, Omicron typically results in less severe symptoms than the Delta variant. However, some health experts fear that despite the lower proportion of Omicron cases requiring hospitalization, the massive increase in overall cases could still mean more people in hospital.
Zambory said Saskatchewan emergency rooms are already “starting to become overrun” before staff have a chance to recover from the fourth wave of the pandemic.
“It brought our health-care system to its knees, gasping, and we continue on with this wait-and-see approach,” she said, referring to Saskatchewan’s status as the only province not to introduce new restrictions in the face of Omicron.
She said there are times in Saskatoon emergencies when more than 200 shifts are vacant, describing the staffing situation as “a human health care crisis.”
As of Thursday, COVID-19 outbreaks had been declared in Saskatoon’s St. Paul’s Hospital in the 5B surgery unit and medical imaging section. There was also an outbreak declared in pediatrics at the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital.
Regina General Hospital’s unit 6F was also the site of a COVID-19 outbreak Thursday.
During a news conference, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) acknowledged health-care workers have started to be impacted by Omicron, whether by testing positive themselves, having to isolate or care for others.
Representatives did not have a figure available for how many staff had been infected with the coronavirus, or whether it happened at work or in the community.
At the site of hospital outbreaks, the SHA is “working to mitigate and minimize any potential impact on services and continue to provide the operations going forward,” said Derek Miller, the SHA’s chief of emergency operations.
The Saskatchewan government defines an outbreak as two or more people testing positive for COVID-19 in an area where transmission likely occurred in a single location outside a household during a specific time period.