Crisis Mode in Canada

"Fires are burning in so many different areas and and right now is the time to get those under control."

"Hospitals are being forced to make the difficult decision to cancel elective surgeries and procedures in areas of the country, and health care workers everywhere are exhausted."

Dr.Theresa Tam, chief public health officer, Canada 

"The impact on our hospitals would be absolutely devastating. As premier I can't accept that and I won't accept that."

"These adjustments are necessary to respond to the latest evidence and we may need to make further adjustments."

"You have already sacrificed so much, but we need to be clear about what is at stake. We are staring down the barrel of another lockdown."

Ontario Premier Doug Ford

People wear face masks as they attend an outdoor event in Montreal, Sunday, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues in Canada and around the world. Public health experts are urging governments to take decisive action to reduce social contacts. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

 

Canada's premiers fear they may be staring helplessly into an abyss. Alberta's premier, facing the stark reality of an economic disaster resulting from a multitude of causes, not the least of which is the financial wreckage on top of the human sacrifices to the ravages of a new coronavirus that has brought Canada's historically wealthiest and most productive province to a standstill, has taken steps to tighten already-existing restrictions. In Manitoba, tighter rules have been brought in, in hopes of controlling a pandemic that has of late made huge strides in striking down the vulnerable.

Canada appears to be headed toward case figures up to ten thousand daily by December, according to informed predictions. It has been weeks on end with cases steadily rising in most parts of the country. Over 282,000 people have now been diagnosed with COVID-19  and a devastating average of 55 people die daily from the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID. On Thursday alone, close to 5,000 cases were diagnosed, and deaths numbered 83 countrywide.

 

People play music as they gather at the Tam Tams festival on a warm fall day in Montreal, Sunday, November 8, 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues in Canada and around the world. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

 

Canada's chief public health officer has warned that the current pace of new cases is steering Canada toward 10,000 cases each day by early December, a situation that will strain health care resources already under stress in struggling with the latest surge. Long-term care homes are once again being hit particularly hard. The drain on provincial treasuries has been deep and hard and the provinces have now called on the federal government to pay permanently for a greater share of health care costs.

Ontario, Canada's most populous province, along with Quebec, has seen the lion's share of the countrywide cases. Quebec is now considering temporarily shutting down schools to get a hold on its spiralling caseload.The Greater Toronto region has now entered the "red zone", the highest level of restrictions, reflecting a greater number of cases detected. These are restrictions severeo6 limiting indoor dining and gyms, closing movie theatres and other entertainment spaces. Only a full and total lockdown represents a more restrictive move in a last-ditch effort to counter the prevailing crisis in case growth.

On Thursday Modelling Ontario released figures indicating the government could be seeing totals of 6,500 cases daily several weeks forward, with the potential to overwhelm the province's critical-care bed capacity. Ontario's premier pleaded with people to modify behaviour -- for themselves and for the wider community -- but in any event he is prepared to enact further, more drastic legislation toward complete shutdown should the situation not begin to modify on a downward track.

Dr. Michael Gardam  (Craig Chivers/CBC)

"To date, we're not moving fast enough to get ahead of this. I think we're being lulled into a false sense of security because of the low numbers of hospitalizations and deaths [relative to earlier in the pandemic]. But they will come in the next six weeks or so."

"I think that appealing to people's better natures — that, hey, you should be careful and you should make sure you limit your contacts — I don't think that that's going to work, to be perfectly frank."

"I think we're going to have to be a lot more forceful."

"I would argue that we need to be very cautious, like we were back in March, in order to weather the storm from all the increased contacts that we've had."

"[Right now], people are playing fast and loose with bubbles all over the place. We're all going to have to pay the price because our kids are in school now. So what are we giving up?"

"If you want to keep the restaurants open and bars, maybe you have to give up your private gatherings. Because if you just increase in every dimension, if you increase the number of contacts that you have, this is going to go to hell real quick."

Dr. Michael Gardam, infectious disease physician, Women's College Hospital, Toronto