This is what Quebec's doctors and nurses are seeing in ERs during the Omicron wave
CBC
The Omicron variant of the coronavirus may be less severe, but it's still leading to an unprecedented wave of hospitalizations in Quebec.
In interviews, doctors and nurses in the province described how the highly transmissible new variant has created new challenges as they try to provide care.
Nathan Friedland, a nurse who worked eight out of the last nine days at the Lakeshore Hospital in Montreal's West Island, said the ER is "overwhelmed."
"We are getting so many COVID patients that we cannot isolate them properly," he said. "The ER is not built to withstand an outbreak like this."
On Friday, the province surpassed 3,000 patients in hospitals with the coronavirus. The number of deaths has also climbed back up to its highest levels since last January, with more than 400 in the last two weeks alone.
"People are still getting sick and though they're not getting sick to the same extent, they're still ill, and those who have comorbidities will probably die from this," said Dr. Peter Goldberg, head of critical care at Montreal's McGill University Health Centre.
But there are also signs of hope, health-care workers say, most notably in the improvements in care and the efficacy of vaccines in preventing serious illness.
Proportionally, those with two doses of vaccine in Quebec are far less likely to end up in hospital — as has been the case elsewhere.
In Quebec, only 13 per cent of people aged five and up have not received two doses, but that group currently makes up 32 per cent of hospital admissions and 46 per cent of admissions in intensive care over the last 28 days, according to the province's Health Ministry. That means a non-vaccinated person was 13 times more likely to end up in the ICU during that period.
In a statement, the Health Ministry said that "most often (but not always) people who die and are adequately vaccinated are people who have health conditions that make them vulnerable."
The province doesn't have a breakdown for those in hospital with three doses, but several health-care workers reported in interviews this week they had seen few or no patients who had gotten a booster.
Dr. Joseph Dahine, an intensive care specialist at Laval's Cité de la Santé hospital, said COVID-19 patients in his hospital can be divided into two general categories.
The first is unvaccinated individuals, many between 30 and 60, who were previously healthy. The other group of patients is older, mostly over 70, with two doses of vaccine, and who often come in with existing health problems.
Given the advances in care, Dahine said his team is able to get people better more quickly, often without intubation, especially if they are vaccinated.