Senior Sask. doc fears 'unthinkable' decisions about who gets care during 4th wave 'not far off'
CBC
Saskatchewan may be bringing back mandatory masks and introducing a proof-of-vaccination program for non-essential businesses to help blunt the fourth wave of COVID-19, but those in charge say difficult decisions may still lie ahead for the province's health care workers.
Scott Livingstone, the CEO of the Saskatchewan Heath Authority (SHA) — the operational arm of the province's health system — said in a news conference Thursday that COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital today are people who were infected two weeks ago.
"There's very little we can do today to stop [those future hospital admissions] from happening, other than building capacity, supporting our staff and using tools like slowdowns," Livingstone said of steps already announced late last week.
Saskatchewan had 218 COVID-19 patients in hospital as of Thursday, including 48 people in intensive care units. The province hasn't seen that many infected people in ICUs since the third wave, when there were 49 infected ICU patients on April 25. And those figures do not even include ICU patients without COVID-19.
During a virtual town hall with physicians on Thursday night, the SHA signalled that it had moved to the second of four escalating phases of ICU capacity, compared to the first stage three weeks ago.
In the first stage, coded green, the system has enough beds for those who need to be placed in ICUs. Saskatchewan works with a base of 79 ICU beds, distributed throughout the following communities:
In the second stage, coded yellow, the system is challenged and health care is affected; hence the service slowdowns (including elective surgeries) announced late last week, which allow the province to "surge" to up to 116 ICU beds by redeploying staff.
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