Coronavirus Update: Canada’s hospital capacity crisis will remain long after the pandemic is over

Good evening, here are the COVID-19 updates you need to know tonight.

Top headlines:

1. Canada’s hospital capacity crisis will remain long after the pandemic is over
2. Ontario Premier Doug Ford says province is experiencing a ‘little spike’ of COVID-19 but it’s manageable
3. Feds consider definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ in review of federal worker mandate

In the past seven days, there were 243 deaths announced, up 3 per cent over the same period. At least 4,192 people are being treated in hospitals.

Canada’s inoculation rate is 14th among countries with a population of one million or more people.

Sources: Canada data is compiled from government websites, Johns Hopkins and COVID-19 Canada Open Data Working Group; international data is from Johns Hopkins University.

Coronavirus explainers: Coronavirus in maps and charts • Tracking vaccine doses • Lockdown rules and reopening

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Coronavirus in Canada

• The COVID-19 hospitalizations reported today in Ontario are up roughly 30 per cent compared to a week ago. Premier Doug Ford says the province is in the midst of “a little spike” of COVID-19 but that it is manageable. Test positivity rate has gone up to 19 per cent, the highest since mid-January, when it hit 24.5 per cent during the Omicron wave. Ford committed funding to plan for a new emergency room at an existing health care facility in Brampton, but experts say funding new beds is only one part of the solution and that deep structural changes are also needed to address long-standing problems.
• British Columbia Premier John Horgan says he has tested positive for COVID-19 and is isolating at home. He says his symptoms are mild and he is thankful to be fully vaccinated.
• La Sucrerie de la Montagne, a sugar shack in Quebec, has reopened to the public after being shuttered for two years because of the pandemic. The province is reporting seven more deaths attributed to COVID-19 today and a 57-patient rise in hospitalizations.

Long before the pandemic, Canadian hospitals were regularly operating at or above full capacity. Hallway medicine, lengthy surgery backlogs and emergency-room wait times, the shortage of nurses and primary-care physicians, the looming catastrophe in long-term care – these have been top-of-mind problems for more than 20 years.

• So while only a small fraction of COVID-19 sufferers become sick enough to require hospitalization, Canadian hospitals have had little ability to absorb them, forcing politicians to impose some of the strictest lockdowns and public-health measures in the world.
• When the pandemic finally ends, that capacity crisis will still be here, and, in fact, it’s expected to worsen.

Vaccine policy for federal workers: The federal government will consider whether to include booster shots in the next version of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for its workers, the Treasury Board said as it reviews the rules. The government must review the need for the policy, which currently requires federal public servants to get two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine or face unpaid leave, after six months. That timeline runs out this week.

Ramadan celebrations: For the first time since the pandemic started, Muslim worshippers will be able to partake in large communal dinners at mosques and homes for Ramadan, which are a staple of the fasting month.

Coronavirus around the world

• COVID-19 cases in China’s largest city of Shanghai are still rising with millions isolated at home under a sweeping lockdown, an approach that is drawing complaints from residents fed up with the restrictions. Shanghai will remain under lockdown as it reviews results of an exercise to test all of its 26 million residents for COVID-19.
• With plateauing COVID-19 cases allowing for eased restrictions this year, Indonesia welcomed the start of the holy fasting month of Ramadan with a mass prayer at Jakarta’s grand mosque on Saturday.

Coronavirus and business

The federal government has eased rules on temporary foreign workers in some areas of the economy desperately in need of employees.

• The changes announced today will allow employers to hire foreign workers for more low-wage jobs, and in areas where the unemployment rate remains high.
• As of February, Canada was 1.9 per cent, or 369,100 jobs, above pre-pandemic levels recorded in February 2020.

Also today: Ingrid Johnson, the new president of Sun Life Asia, is facing a pandemic wave that may cause a significant slowdown in markets where face-to-face interaction continues to be the preferred way of doing business.

Globe opinion

• Brian Goldman: Health care is a team sport. Patients and their families need to be on the roster

More reporting

• Daniel Craig tests positive for COVID-19, temporarily halting James Bond star’s return to Broadway
• A mid-career break is no longer an automatic red flag on a resume, and experts in the careers field say the pandemic accelerated that trend
• With the ‘Great Resignation’ happening during the pandemic, many employees who planned to stay in their jobs are starting to wonder what they might be missing by staying put

Information centre

• Everything you need to know about Canada’s travel restrictions for vaccinated and unvaccinated people
• Where do I book a COVID-19 booster or a vaccine appointment for my kids? Latest rules by province
• What is and isn't 'paid sick leave' in Canada? A short primer
• Got a vaccine 'hangover'? Here's why

Sources: Canada data are compiled from government websites, Johns Hopkins University and COVID-19 Canada Open Data Working Group; international data are from Johns Hopkins.

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