Ontario’s health minister says that some hospitals have had to delay surgeries due to staffing shortages amid the sixth wave of the pandemic but she is expressing optimism that the strain on the healthcare system will soon ease.

Christine Elliott made the comment to reporters following a funding announcement in Uxbridge on Friday morning.

“We do have some people off, there is no question about it. There are staff shortages because people are ill with COVID. However, Dr. (Kieran) Moore has indicated that the peak of this COVID wave seems to have been reached and though we will likely see an increase in some hospitalizations for the next week because it is a lagging indicator we are then going to see the numbers going down and we will have more people able to return to work” she said. “In some cases they (hospitals) have had to delay some surgeries for a short period of time but they are trying to keep all the emergency departments open however they can.”

Hospitals across the GTA have reported hundreds of unplanned absences among staff in recent weeks, either because they tested positive for COVID-19 or were a close contact of someone who did.

The Ontario Science Advisory Table also said last week that positive cases among healthcare workers have actually reached the peak seen at the height of the initial Omicron wave in January, which is further “stressing hospital operations, contributing to burnout and affecting the ability to provide healthcare services.”

Against this backdrop several hospitals have had to postpone surgeries and, in the case of St. Mary’s Memorial Hospital near London, close their emergency department overnight.

Elliott, however, told reporters on Friday that she expects any impact on hospital operations as a result of COVID-19 absences to be short-lived.

“We do have very cooperative relationships among hospitals right now so they are trying to transfer patients where they can, do other surgeries where they can and that is really important,” she said. “There are not many good things you can say about COVID but one thing that has happened, which is positive, is the very collegial relationship that all of the hospitals in Ontario have with each other. So they are helping each other get through this short period of time until everybody is back at work.”

Province will extend mask mandate for high-risk settings

There has continued to be a slow rise in the number of active COVID-19 outbreaks associated with hospitals even as case counts have come down in the broader community.

As of this morning Ontario’s hospitals were reporting 82 active outbreaks, up from 77 this time last week and 57 two weeks ago.

“Sometimes we look at the numbers of new cases per day or the number of hospitalizations or the number of people in the ICU and, you know, those are important metrics that tell a very important story. But behind the scenes, you have to have an army of people who are caring for them and that's your outpatient providers, your hospital providers. It's not just doctors and nurses right? And when so many people are sick because they got COVID or they've been exposed to COVID it's a lot harder to care for that population, even if that number of people, for example, now is lower compared to prior wave,” infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch told CP24 earlier on Friday. “If you just don't have as many hands on deck, it’s a lot harder to provide the same high quality of care that Canadians expect and deserve.”

On Friday Elliott did tell reporters that there will be an official announcement later this afternoon on extending the mask mandate for high-risk settings, including hospitals, that was set to be lifted on April 27.