COVID-19: Waterloo region, Guelph-area hospitals treating 126 cases, 500+ employees out of work | The Canadian News

There are 126 confirmed COVID-19 cases being treated at six hospitals in the Waterloo, Guelph and Wellington County region, according to new data released Tuesday.

Local hospitals promised to publish a report twice a week amid a spike in cases due to the Omicron variant.

“We continue to exhaust all options and do everything we can to increase our capacity as a local system to serve more patients,” said St. Mary General Hospital President Lee Fairclough, who also serves as the Regional Leader for Waterloo Wellington Hospital. in the COVID-19 answer.

“Despite adding more beds, hiring additional staff, and last week suspending non-urgent and non-emergent services, our hospitals are near or over capacity. The numbers are increasing at a rapid rate, increasing from 95 to 126 COVID patients in our hospitals. “

Fairclough said the occupancy of all local hospitals is between 90 and 99 percent and a quarter of the patients are under the age of 60 and many are not vaccinated.

Along with St. Mary’s, the facilities included in the report are Cambridge Memorial Hospital, Grand River Hospital, Groves Memorial Community Hospital, Guelph General Hospital, and North Wellington Health Care.

The report shows that there are 110 COVID patients in acute care and 16 in intensive care.

The Guelph General ICU’s occupancy is 100 percent, while its intensive care occupancy is 98 percent, according to the report.

“The measures in this report provide a bigger picture of what we are seeing in terms of hospital occupancy and activity, including increased visits to emergency departments compared to pre-pandemic numbers. Even with the new net beds that have been opened in the region, today we are challenged to serve more patients with fewer staff ”.

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The report also shows that more than 500 employees are unable to come to work because they have tested positive for COVID-19 or are isolated at home due to being a high-risk contact.

This includes nearly 200 employees at Grand River Hospital, more than 100 at St Mary’s, and around 50 at Guelph General.

“Especially when the kids go back to school next week, Omicron demands that we use all the measures we can to protect everyone,” Fairclough said.

“We are at a very critical point right now and our actions today and over the next several weeks will make a difference in our ability to overcome this together.”