95 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Windsor-Essex Thursday
CBC
The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Windsor-Essex has nearly doubled in a week's time.
Last Thursday, there were 49 people hospitalized locally with COVID-19. Today, there are 95 people in hospital, according to the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU). That includes 14 patients in intensive care locally.
"In my experience as a hospital doctor, 95 people is a significant burden on a hospital," said acting medical officer of health, Dr. Shanker Nesathurai, during a media briefing Thursday.
"If that number was zero, there would be 95 beds available to people who have scheduled care or other services or care they might need."
The top doctor for the region said the increase of hospitalizations locally are an "unrecognized burden of COVID-19" on the community, adding that it is also an indicator of how the virus is spreading here.
A spokesperson for Windsor Regional Hospital said Thursday that the hospital has not had to transfer any COVID-19 patients elsewhere for care, and has accepted patients from elsewhere in this region.
Another positive sign for the hospital is that the rate of workers cleared to return to work following COVID-19 isolations is starting to outpace how many workers need to stay home.
As of Thursday, 382 staff members were home in isolation of the 4,800 hospital employees. Of those off of work, 213 have tested positive for COVID-19, while the others are close contacts of positive cases.
Another 151 staff have returned to work recovered from COVID-19.
Meanwhile at Erie Shores HealthCare in Leamington, the hospital is at 138 per cent capacity.
A spokesperson for the hospital said they have not transferred any COVID-19 patients elsewhere, mainly due to the capacity issues at surrounding hospitals.
Hospitals across Ontario have had to scale back their procedures due to the strain of the Omicron variant.
The health unit recorded 409 new cases of COVID-19 for Windsor-Essex, but due to the lack of available testing and provincial changes to case and contact management, this number continues to be lower than is accurate.
WECHU officials say they are looking for new provincial guidance to change what metrics they use to track the "burden of disease" in the community, as case counts will continue to become less accurate.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.