Coronavirus spreads. But don't panic! (topical thread)

[Unsapien]

https://www.cp24.com/news/canada-s-hospi...-1.5972423

Today's news:

Canada's hospital emergency rooms understaffed, facing tsunami of patients

TORONTO, July 3 (Reuters) -- Health authorities across Canada have cut the hours of hospital emergency departments and urgent care clinics in recent weeks, a move that in some cases may extend through the summer, due to a surge in patients and staff shortages.

The situation, clinicians say, is tied to a resurgence of viral infections such as COVID-19 among adults and children and a push by others to seek care delayed by the pandemic, and exacerbated by the high number of healthcare workers who are sick or burned out.
The strain has led to scenes of clogged hospital hallways and overflowing clinic waiting rooms, hours-long waits for inpatient care and occupancy rates of more than 100% at children's hospitals. It also has rekindled debate about systemic problems in the government-funded healthcare system.

On Thursday, the Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital in eastern Ontario announced that its emergency department in Perth would be closed from Saturday to Thursday due to a COVID-19 outbreak affecting its staffing.
"It's like the four horsemen of the apocalypse all descending on us in health care at once," said Alan Drummond, a family and emergency physician based in the town, which is home to about 6,000 people.

Children have been hard hit by the healthcare crunch as youngsters with no prior exposure to a number of viruses succumbed to illness during the spring as many people abandoned face masks used to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa, the nation's capital, ran at between 110% and 120% capacity for weeks in May and early June. Occupancy was a record high for the month of May, a spokesperson said.

You're right @Dom the pandemic is far from over...

If you're anywhere in the healthcare field and you want to emigrant from your country to Canada, I bet you'd be fast tracked to the front of the line.
My youngest son is planning to go into healthcare after high-school, despite what his mother has told us about her experiences in the field. But he likes helping people, and as I've seen with my own eyes 3 times now over the last 2 years, he's got a cool head in an emergency, and can handle the... smell. Definitely got that from his mother, not me.