Canada's co-hosting the FIFA World Cup — and preparing for a potential surge in health emergencies. Here's how

As Toronto and Vancouver gear up to co-host FIFA World Cup games this summer, an emergency doctor worries that Canada's overburdened health-care system won't be able to handle any extra demand that could result.

In an editorial published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) Dr. Catherine Varner points out that Canada's health-care system is already in a "constant state of surge capacity." Add in hundreds of thousands of visitors, she wrote, and it could be a recipe for disaster. 

"Speaking from working right now in the middle of our flu season, where we haven't been able to handle a surge in acute care need anywhere in Canada it seems, I would be concerned going forward about having a surge in need for hospital resources," said Varner, CMAJ's deputy editor and an emergency doctor in downtown Toronto, in an interview with CBC News.

Her concern is supported by years of research showing that health issues — like infectious disease outbreaks, food-borne illnesses and alcohol overconsumption — can strain emergency rooms during or after mass gatherings. 

For example, researchers found that strains of measles were introduced to Vancouver during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games and resulted in an outbreak of 82 cases three months after the event.

Researchers have also noted that during the Calgary Stampede, there is an increase in emergency department visits related to trauma, substance-abuse and minor injuries. And research has also found that World Cup matches could trigger an increase in the number of cardiac emergencies.  

There's also the possibility of large-scale attacks that can send many to hospital, like the one that took place early last year at Vancouver's Lapu-Lapu festival. 

Varner started looking into these sorts of examples after working at a Toronto hospital during the Toronto Blue Jays' World Series run this past fall.

"We had one ICU bed available and I could not imagine what we would do if we faced an event downtown where we needed to see a lot of patients quickly," she said of the hospital she works at.

And while Varner says she knows that in extreme cases there's a process in place to quickly move patients and free up the emergency department, she questions how that would work given the current state of health care in Canada.

"The challenge is execution of those plans in a health-care system that does not have enough hospital beds on any given day," she said. 

Canada is co-hosting this year's FIFA World Cup along with the United States and Mexico. And with six games scheduled in Toronto and seven in Vancouver, the country could see hundreds of thousands of visitors over the course of four weeks. 

Crowds of fans interacting with each other before, during and after matches is the perfect breeding ground for various infectious diseases, specifically respiratory or food and water-borne ones, according to a report from Public Health Ontario. 

Following a months-long risk assessment, the provincial health agency determined that measles, COVID-19 and food and water-borne outbreaks like food poisoning or hepatitis A, are "likely" during the World Cup games.