TORONTO – Everything: injuries, trauma and even viruses (Covid-19 aside). Ontario hospitals are again under siege, this time not due the pandemic but for other reasons: from the seasonal flu to injuries (especially young people, returned “free” after two years of restrictions). The situation is similar in all hospitals in the country: records of emergency room visits and beds “sold out”. 

CHEO, the Eastern Ontario (Ottawa) Children’s Hospital (in the pic above, from its Twitter profile), tweeted on Sunday that the last weekend was “like no other in the hospital’s 48-year history.” Sixteen hospitalized patients without beds: they remained in the emergency room, some of them for almost forty-eight hours.

“An above average number of young people arrived in hospital since Friday with viruses, trauma and injuries more serious than normal, and there are no more beds available”, they explained from the structure, adding that “in the last six weeks, our wards were packed. Again, with younger than normal being sicker than normal. In addition to Covid-19, also the flu, surgery and many other causes”.

Influenza cases have seen a rare spring surge in Canada following the easing of anti-Covid restrictions. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) reported more than 1,300 cases of influenza across the country between May 29 and June 4. For comparison, there was only one case of influenza last year between May 23 and June 19.

PHAC also says that while the number of reported influenza-associated pediatric hospitalizations has decreased in recent weeks, it remains above typical levels for this time of the year. And in any case, the CHEO is reporting the most intense May ever for its emergency room and June could also be a record month for hospitalizations. People who go to the emergency room and who do not need immediate care therefore risk having to wait long, and hospitals are urging families to consider alternatives to the emergency room, such as family doctors or clinics, where possible.

Same situation in Toronto: to report it, once again via Twitter, is Dr. Kashif Pirzada (in the pic below, from his Twitter profile), an emergency room doctor: also in Toronto E.R. has been stormed in recent days.

“At the moment in Ontario, waiting times and emergency room crowding are at crisis levels. Many of us have never seen such a serious situation in our entire careers”, with waiting times between six and eight hours if you go to the emergency room. “There is no staff – the doctor told CTV News -: everything, from simple injuries to the most serious cases, takes longer than necessary. Many family doctors are afraid to see patients in person because of the risk -Covid”.

And “virtual” visits, meanwhile, have dropped: according to the Ministry of Health, only 40% of appointments are via video or telephone, while the percentage during the pandemic was 97%. Result: everyone in the emergency room, for whatever.