A volunteer with the Red Cross shows a doorway between beds in a mobile hospital set up in partnership with the Canadian Red Cross
OTTAWA, April 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Canadian hospitals had beds to spare as the country hit 50,373 confirmed coronavirus cases on Wednesday, and several provinces were relaxing public health measures, but health experts were already worrying about a future wave of infections.
While it is too soon to say whether Canada’s epidemic has peaked, it has slowed, thanks to swift workplace closures and other physical distancing measures: New cases doubled every three days early in the epidemic, and now double every 16 days, the government said.
Since the first death on March 9, the virus has killed 2,904 in total in Canada compared to the United States, where an average of 2,000 died each day in April.
Hospitals fared well although the virus flared in long-term care homes and several prisons. Like the United States and European countries, Canada has struggled to contain the outbreak among seniors, and approximately 79% of deaths are linked to long-term care and seniors’ homes.
In British Columbia, where cases spiked early on, partly due to its proximity to the first U.S. epicenter of Washington state, the number of coronavirus patients in hospital is falling. The province had a total of 94 COVID-19 patients in hospital on Tuesday, including 37 in intensive care, down from a peak of 149 on April 4, according to provincial data.
In Ontario and Quebec, the number in ICU has plateaued.
Non-ICU hospitalizations are still climbing in Ontario and Quebec, a consequence of transfers from overwhelmed long-term care homes, officials said. Ontario had 742 non-ICU patients as of Wednesday, up 17% from a week earlier while in hard-hit Quebec, the figure rose 38% on Tuesday from a week earlier, to 1,408 as more seniors were shifted to hospitals.
But the data suggests that the vast majority of Canadians have not been ill.
“The measures we’ve taken so far are working. In fact, in many parts of the country, the curve has flattened, but we’re not out of the woods yet,” said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday. “We’re in the middle of the most serious public health emergency Canada has ever seen and if we lift measures too quickly, we might lose the progress we’ve made.” — NNN-AGENCIES
