Ontario pediatric ICUs operating above capacity, provincial data shows
CBC
New data shows Ontario's pediatric intensive care units are operating over capacity, with the number of children receiving care exceeding the number of available beds across the province.
Critical Care Services Ontario's daily census shows there are currently 122 children in pediatric ICUs, up from 111 the day before.
Ontario has a total of 112 intensive care beds for children.
Pediatric infectious diseases specialist Dr. Anna Banerji told CBC News that across the country, hospitals are overwhelmed with sick kids with respiratory infections.
"It's a crisis," she said.
"We have the rest of the winter where this typically peaks, so it's only going to get worse before it gets better."
Pediatric hospitals have been inundated with sick patients for weeks.
Last week, Ontario Health directed general hospitals to accept children 14 and older who need critical care in an effort to ease the burden on pediatric facilities.
Children's hospitals have said the majority of kids in intensive care are five years old and younger.
WATCH | Toronto doctor talks hospital pressures:
Dr. Fahad Razak, an internist at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto and an assistant professor at the University of Toronto with research expertise in global health and health services, told CBC News Thursday that data from other parts of the world suggests it will be a difficult season for influenza alone, let alone COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.
He is recommending that Ontarians get vaccinated for both the flu and COVID now if they haven't already, and to start wearing masks again in indoor spaces.
"There is a limit to what individuals can do, and this is where there is a need for collective actions — public health measures," he said.
"Masks are a blunt tool. They are imperfect, but they do work. We've seen that over the course of the pandemic."
Voters in District 2, Georgetown-Pownal, are heading to the polls today to choose their next MLA.
Every year when the giant inflatable turkey comes out at the Griffiths Ford dealership in Hinton, Alta., the town’s residents know the holiday season has arrived.
While most students head home after school in Fort St. John, B.C., brothers Arjen and Henry Pos lean over a workbench sealing welds on a half-finished go-kart frame.
After 29 years working at the Metro grocery store in St. Catharines, Ont., Anne-Marie Stevens says, when it comes to theft, "now it doesn't seem like it matters."
Ontario jails are heading toward a record year for overcrowding, remand populations and lockdowns just as politicians debate bail reforms that could lead to a further influx of accused behind bars, data analyzed by CBC News reveals.
It’s been a deadly year on Calgary’s streets.
Jails in northern Ontario are facing some of the worst overcrowding pressures in the province, with population data showing dramatic increases since 2019.
Northwest Toronto's newly-opened light-rail transit (LRT) line is getting its first major test Monday, as weekday commuters bring rush hour to the Finch West LRT for the first time.
Demolition of Kitchener's Frederick Street bridge is underway in order to prepare for work on a new Highway 7 between Guelph and Kitchener.
With her siblings, parents and late husband in mind, Marguerite Keating requested the song O Holy Night during a Sunday service in Charlottetown.
The majority of fraud cases in Ontario have ended with charges being stayed or withdrawn since 2020 because of COVID-19-related backlogs, the growing complexity of frauds, and a lack of resources in the province’s criminal justice system, according to the Ontario Crown Attorneys’ Association.
Ontario Provincial Police in Elgin County say one person has died in a fatal collision along Hwy. 401 in Dutton, west of London.
A southwestern Nova Scotia community is hoping its successful purchase of a historic Acadian church will serve as a model for other communities to follow.