Hospitals struggling as COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations rise in Alberta: doctor
COVID-19 statistics saw an uptick in late April in Alberta — a development one doctor says is straining hospitals even more.
Cases increased by 21 per cent; the positivity rate grew by four per cent; and hospitalizations went up 28 per cent from the week before at the end of last month.
While cases and hospitalizations are nowhere near as high as the peak of the pandemic, an ER doctor told CTV News Edmonton hospitals are still feeling the strain.
"We are overcrowded, under-resourced, struggling to manage as many patients as we possibly can with limited resources, limited people, limited personnel," Dr. Warren Thirsk said, a doctor at the Royal Alexandra Hospital.
"I think that the system is so over capacity and under-resourced that any minor strain has a magnified effect on us and everyone else. I'm not surprised that we're having a spike in COVID."
Dr. Thirsk says patients are suffering, waiting as long as 14 hours in "deplorable conditions."
"We have traded resources for suffering. We've traded investment in the system for wait times, and those wait times come with suffering," Dr. Thirsk said.
He thinks immunization continues to be the best solution to keep COVID-19 at bay as much as possible.
Adriana LaGrange, Alberta's health minister, acknowledged the uptick in cases on Tuesday afternoon, but "it's not a huge amount."
LaGrange said her government and health officials are monitoring the situation in hospitals and that the province launched a spring immunization campaign for at-risk Albertans.
On Tuesday, the Opposition NDP asked the government to report COVID-19 data more often and to make decisions with the advice of the province's chief medical officer of health.
"We're worried about transmission in the hospitals, because that's where the cases are. And because there's overcrowding in our hospitals," NDP MLA Luanne Metz said.
"We need to be paying attention to what the risks are and how this is going to spread."
Seven hospitals had a COVID-19 outbreak as of April 30.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Chelan Skulski
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Drive one of these vehicles? You may pay 37 per cent more than average insurance costs due to thefts
As the number of auto theft incidents rises in Canada, so have insurance premiums for drivers, even the ones whose vehicles aren't stolen.
'I'm not wealthy': Ontario senior shocked she owes $40,000 in capital gains after gifting land
An Ontario senior who wanted to help her daughter and grandson eventually own homes one day decided to give them two lots on her property as a gift—but she didn’t know it would eventually cost her tens of thousands of dollars.
NDP want Liberals to scrap proposed election date change that could secure pensions for many MPs
The federal New Democrats want to amend the Liberal government's electoral reform legislation to scrap the proposal to push back the vote by a week and consequently secure pensions for dozens of MPs, CTV News has learned.
Largest vaccine production plant in Canada opens in Toronto
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is announcing the opening of a major vaccine production plant in Toronto today — part of Canada's efforts to build up the domestic biomanufacturing sector in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
These are the world's 20 best cities for foodies, according to Time Out
Some travellers pick a city break based on the destination’s cultural offerings. Others eye up cities with buzzy nightlife or opt for a destination hosting a festival or event. But for many vacationers, the most exciting part of any trip is the food.
Video shows driver in Toronto frantically getting out of car being pushed by truck
A CP24 camera caught the moment a driver frantically got out of her car as it was being dragged by a truck on Avenue Road Wednesday afternoon.
Israeli centrist party proposes vote to dissolve parliament
Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz's centrist party proposed on Thursday holding a parliamentary vote on dissolving the parliament, but it was unclear whether he had enough support to bring about an early election.
Exorbitant fees get Gazans out with no help from Ottawa
The comforting sound of giggling grandchildren has chased away the cloud of anxiety that has loomed over Mohammed and Intisar Nofal's home for the past seven months.
BMO services restored following outage from data centre fire alarm, the bank says
Bank of Montreal clients saw services restored Thursday morning after an overnight, false fire alarm caused outages, the bank says.