High Demand for COVID-19 in Some Saskatchewan Hospitals Still Delaying Part of Medical Care | The Canadian News

The Saskatchewan Health Authority says it has resumed nearly half of the healthcare services that were cut off during the fourth wave of COVID-19 in the province.

It says that high hospitalization rates in urban areas are preventing the remaining services from returning.

“We are not out of the woods yet in terms of our fourth wave,” Dr. Saqib Shahab, the province’s director of medical health, said Tuesday.

“It will take longer for our hospitalization numbers to decline.”

As of this week, 193 of the 395 services cut since Sept. 1 resumed, and another 68 services partially fell back.

Services include pediatric programming, home care, medical imaging, and therapies. Additionally, the province said it aims to bring back its organ donation program by next week.

The health authority said surgeries are also increasing across the province, although rural areas are seeing a faster return compared to Regina and Saskatoon.

Derek Miller, head of the authority’s emergency operations center, said that is due to increased demand for COVID-19 care in cities.

“We really need to see those go down with the rest to start moving toward normalcy,” Miller said.

Modeling has suggested that Saskatchewan’s health care system will not return to sustainable levels until mid-January.

The province faced one of the fourth toughest waves in the country after the Saskatchewan Party government lifted COVID-19 measures before the summer and, according to the government itself, was slow to implement a mask mandate and passport system. of vaccines when cases began to increase.

Levels in intensive care units have gradually approached the province’s reference capacity, with 80 patients currently in the ICU. But Miller cautioned that unvaccinated populations can still generate clusters of infections.

“The healthcare system relies on overall COVID transmission and case volumes and what that means for hospitalizations, particularly ICUs,” Miller said.

“We have a wish, and they all want to see case numbers continue to trend downward and partner hospitals do the same, allowing us to resume services and get back to normal.”

Shahab said that the adoption of COVID-19 vaccines has resulted in the reduction of cases and hospitalizations.

Government data shows that since the province implemented its vaccine passport system in October, around 200,000 more injections have been administered.

“We’re not seeing mostly big broadcasts … that’s very important, because we can do a lot now with these tools,” Shahab said.

“It’s a much safer situation with a lot of things open.”

The province’s mask mandate will expire at the end of the month, although Prime Minister Scott Moe has hinted that the public health order will be extended.

Shahab said she would like people to keep wearing masks well into spring. It also recommends that people require vaccine passports in private settings, where the government does not require it.

Saskatchewan continues to rely primarily on vaccines to fend off a fifth wave, which according to models could be the worst in the province due to stagnant high hospitalization rates.

On Tuesday morning, the first reservation day for Pfizer-BioNTech’s pediatric COVID-19 injection in Saskatchewan, nearly 10,000 appointments were made online, briefly crashing the health authority’s vaccine reservation system.

About 700 people have also been inoculated with Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine since it arrived in the province last week, which according to the health authority meets its expectations.

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