The C-E-O of the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance says asking the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) for a lockdown is justified. Andrew Williams says HPHA is concerned about the number of people they're seeing in their intensive care units and their acute care beds. Williams adds they're worried that they're at the tipping point, and won't to be able to look after additional hospital admissions.
Williams points out there are outbreaks all around them and the numbers continue to climb. “So the concern of the hospitals is that with the current approaches, we're not seeing the levelling off of COVI9 increases that we would like to see and we're really very, very concerned about January and the impact that holiday season could have on our capacity.”
“There's typically a two to three-week lag on when cases start to increase and when we start to see an increased pressure on hospitals. So we're really hoping to be pro-active over the holiday season. Reinforce that people should stay home in their very tight bubble and do what they need to do to limit the spread”, added Williams.
Williams says the immediate challenge is that they could run out of intensive care unit capacity. “That starts to affect non-elective work that people need. Our major concern right now is are we going to be presented with having to make a decision on non-elective work because we just simply don't have the capacity to support them.”
