Emergency room doctor frustrated by uptick in COVID cases in southern Manitoba
CTV
An emergency room doctor in southern Manitoba is growing frustrated as COVID-19 cases continue to climb, saying younger patients are ending up in the hospital, and people aren’t getting tested before coming in.
An emergency room doctor in southern Manitoba is growing frustrated as COVID-19 cases continue to climb, saying younger patients are ending up in the hospital, and people aren’t getting tested before coming in.
The region makes up around 15 per cent of the province's population but accounts for half of all COVID cases, with another 17 added on Tuesday.
With the uptick in cases, Bethesda Regional Health Centre in Steinbach is admitting several patients a day to the ICU.
"You know, a lot of patients are in their 20s and 30s and saying, 'Oh, I was confused by what I was seeing on social media, so I just didn't get my vaccine’," said Dr. Jen Anderson, who is a family physician in the area and also works at Bethesda Regional Health Centre.
Anderson noted many people are showing up to hospital with serious symptoms, yet they haven't been tested.
She said the reasons she’s heard from patients for not getting tested vary from not wanting to wait in line, not wanting to test positive so they can work, and people who deny they have COVID.
"Even a year and a half into this, that reassurance that this could be COVID, and you probably should be tested – even if it is just to make sure that if you are doing okay, that you aren't passing it to someone else."
