Situation in Ont. hospitals expected to worsen as doctors isolate and admissions rise

The pressure on Ontario's hospitals is expected to worsen in the coming weeks as more staff are forced off the job due to COVID-19 and admissions due to the virus climb, the head of the province's hospital association said, calling it a dire situation.

Beds are filling up rapidly, with 2,279 COVID-19 patients in hospital as of Thursday, compared to 440 two weeks earlier.

And though the 300 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units pales in comparison to the peak during the third wave of the pandemic, when 900 people with the virus were in ICU, that doesn't mean health-care workers are breathing any easier, said Anthony Dale, president of the Ontario Hospital Association.

"We still have very, very sick people. We still have a very large number of people being admitted to intensive care," Dale said. "I don't know where the ceiling will be."

As of Dec. 31, when 1,144 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, Ontario Health said overall acute bed capacity -- which includes ICU beds -- was 20,000, and 18,000 were occupied, including just over 2,000 in intensive care.