Woman shows up at our pop up today. Asks if we can vaccinate her bedbound father who lives nearby. Dr Truong and Dr Ou-Hingwan, amazing family physicians took a vaccine and went to his apartment. Vaccinated an elderly man on home oxygen. These our our heroes.
@SHNcares
1/
For those of you who think “COVID is over”, sadly it’s lot. It’s quietly making a comeback. With no mandatory reporting, no outbreak management other than LTC and health care, and no real testing, people think things are normal. COVID is rampant in kids hockey in GTA. 1/
COVID hospitalizations are quietly rising again. 60% rise in new cases where I work in just 1 week. We are getting into trouble again and it’s going to be worse once mask mandates are lifted. Once again this disproportionately impacts marginalized, immigrant communities
#onpoli
1
Just came home from ER shift. Everyone is so sick. Everyone has COVID19. Referred so many for admission onto the wards and ICU. Essential workers or their family members. Multigenerational families. I speak to their children and grandchildren on the phone. 1/
It’s amazing how for 2 years, our kids didn’t get respiratory virus or GI viruses for that matter. Volumes of kids in ER and admissions plummeted dramatically. Since the lifting of mask mandates, huge shift. Tons of kids with resp and GI viruses. Admissions increased. 1/
Patients are waiting in ER waiting rooms for hours. Many have COVID19 or other transmissible viral illnesses. Removing mask mandates in high risk settings is a recipe for disaster. Let’s not encourage another wave. 1/
I hope it’s just a blip but my hospital’s COVID19 numbers doubled between Thursday and today. Given what I’m suddenly seeing in ER, I’m concerned. Referred 3 patients for admission with COVID19 in 2 shifts. 1/
I just noticed that Dr Kieran Moore did his CCFP (EM). Wondering if he would like to help us out in the ER as the number of COVID patients continue to rise with the removal of mask mandates. Many ERs in GTA are short staffed. Physicians are tired and burnt out. 1/
Agree 100%. We have double this number of staff.Our vaccine clinic is extremely well run and we have many physicians and staff working 24/7 organizing this. Any policy failure is MOH and
@fordnation
. They forced us to be closed 25-27. We were ready and willing to work.
Just left our COVID Vax clinic after touring today. Staff are pumped and refreshed and working full out to vaccinate. Our schedule is full and we are adding capacity. Our teams have been working flat out day and night for two weeks building a mass vax clinic that will serve many
Did he actually say that? Did he actually say that the kids who died of COVID19 had underlying medical conditions? No child should die from a preventable infectious disease.
@SickKidsNews
@julia_orkin
So please consider the many consequences when you say “COVID is over”. “It only affects the unvaccinated and high risk people”. “Mask mandates should end”. “No need to vaccinate kids or boost teens”. COVID is far from over.
A hockey game last week with 11 yo kids. 21 got COVID. Plus their family members. No reporting or contact tracing so many exposed elderly family members without knowing. High school hockey team party. One kid went with covid. Spread to many kids who then went to school. 2/
I don’t understand how we are building a field hospital and speaking about increasing hospital and ICU capacity, while simultaneously easing restrictions and opening outdoor patios tomorrow in hotspots.
#wave3
#MixedMessages
@fordnation
@OntariosDoctors
We have to cancel over 10000 appts at our mass vaccination centres in
#Scarborough
because we don’t have vaccine
@SHNcares
.
@TOPublicHealth
didn’t come through and
@fordnation
didn’t come through. We have a 24% positivity rate for Covid. Overflowing ICU and COViD wards. 1/
There are currently 1.2M doses in freezers. There was roughly 700K yesterday. Vaccine clinics all over the GTA are claiming they have no access to vaccine. Something isn't adding up. This is not "we just got our supply".
Someone needs to be accountable.
My 11 year old son after I told him cases counts today: “What is positivity rate mom?” 16% “Oh no! That’s terrible. Why isn’t the government doing anything? I guess that wouldn’t be popular with an election coming up…. Shame that my child can see through this inaction.
Health care workers are getting COVID19 at a rate in Ontario never seen this pandemic. We can’t staff any extra beds in the hospitals, ERs or ICU. ERs in northern Ontario are being closed. The health care system is at risk of collapse.
#onpoli
At the end of my shift I reflected how angry I was. Angry at the government, angry at PHUs. Angry at groups that can’t be more nimble. Angry at those who want to be perfect rather than just getting shit done. 3/
Yesterday was the most difficult ER shift of my 14 year career. Had 2 people die from COVID, one of them was 60 and another one was dying. 20 admitted patients. No beds. No resuscitation rooms. Everything was full. This was my worst fear and it’s going to get worse.
@fordnation
It is hard to believe that today is the deadliest day of the pandemic in Ontario. 89 deaths.
This is the most catastrophic failure of moving evidence into practice and policy that I have ever seen in my career.
We have known what to do for so long. We just haven't done it.
Update: 6 hours and 10 minutes for COVID swab at Etobicoke drive thru for an almost 3 yo with a cold.
@fordnation
@celliottability
this is unacceptable.
Just had to cancel another 2 days of vaccine clinics in
#Scarborough
because we don’t have any vaccine. I don’t understand why
@TOPublicHealth
@epdevilla
@fordnation
won’t direct some vaccine so we can vaccinate our high risk population. 1/
If you have a household contact with COVID, please wear a mask when in public!!!! That includes parties! I really can’t believe people have forgotten common courtesy…
That will be 6 ER shifts that my already tired colleagues will have to cover. We are already short staffed. Working more shifts than we would like. And constantly covering for absences for COVID protocols and illnesses as well as high volumes. 4/
This is
#COVID19
in a healthy patient in their 20s. Got it from dad who is essential workers in warehouse who was exposed to co-worker. Always wore masks. Patient’s mother in ICU. This young patient is admitted and requires oxygen. This IS preventable.
#PaidSickDaysSaveLives
#BREAKING
: The Ontario government has once again voted against
#PaidSickDays
.
In total, our government has now voted against paid sick days 21 times since the start of the
#COVID19
pandemic.
If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.
This isn’t accurate
@traviskann
. We were told that MOH mandated us to be closed on Dec 25-27. We were ready to work and even our Covid assessment centres were open. We are the hot spot in Ontario and we need to get everyone vaccinated ASAP. We don’t have a minute to waste.
It was hospital sites administering the vaccines that asked for the slightly amended schedule, recognizing challenges with holiday staffing and the need to care for patients. Personally, I’m happy to listen to frontline partners. In any event, Ontario will be back at it tomorrow.
Why are we restricting mass vaccination clinics to >75 now when anyone over 60 can get vaccinated at pharmacy or Family doctors office? This doesn’t make any sense at all.
@fordnation
how about you allow all seniors >65 to get vaccinated wherever it’s most convenient? 1/
Everyone at school seems to be getting sick. COVId and non COVId related. Just shows what good public health measures can do. Stay home when symptomatic. Wear masks. Good ventilation.
Schools are opening on Monday at the height of this wave. Kids in JK have zero protection. They will all eat together with no masks on. Many live with vulnerable family members. Need to vaccinate 2017 birth year. Please allow these kids turning 5 to get vaccinated.
@fordnation
Saw 5 patients in a row with shortness of breath. Each one worse than the previous. My colleagues working with me had the same kind of day. I thank G-d for our Physician Assistants and nurses and RTs who worked like soldiers on the front lines. We all did what we needed to do. 2/
Because the new rules say that they can go to school even with close contact if double vaccinated (not “fully vaccinated”). Now COVID is spreading through the school. So if my kid(S) get COVId in the next couple of days from any of these potential exposures, 3/
Doesn’t have a family Dr. I answered her questions, told her side effects and that her risk right now for getting COVId and getting really sick is very high. Showed her the way to our vaccine clinics and she got her first dose. Win for today 😊.
1. We need emergency brake ASAP. The modelling is really really scary. If we don’t pull emergency brake
@fordnation
we will be talking about triaging. As an ER doc, I’m really scared. 2. Close schools now. There are way too many cases. We tried. 1/
Dr. Isaac Bogoch, infectious diseases specialist at Toronto General Hospital, told CBC News on Sunday that it may be time for Ontario to consider another lockdown.
Please get your children aged 5-11 their first or second dose if it’s been >21 days as soon as possible. It’s the best way to protect your child from COVID19. Call provincial booking line and give parental consent to get an appt. 1/
I’m an ER physician in a hot zone in Toronto. I worked in the ED today and I’m working tomorrow on Christmas Day. Our ICUs are full and we transferred patients to neighbouring hospitals today. Please stay home for the holidays. Please help save lives.
@OntariosDoctors
To all essential workers, I challenge you- let’s get this message out Twitter wide. People are dying of a preventable disease. Choices have consequences. There’s a lot for everyone to do, but right now, just stay home for the holidays.
Good morning NACI. Hope you are back from holidays and ready to recommend booster doses for teens. Many of them are 6-7 months post their second dose. Going back to school with
#Omicron
raging.
@CPHO_Canada
My kids’ school has multiple teachers with COVID19. Some don’t wear masks during class. But none of the kids are considered close contacts which doesn’t make any sense. Ford says we have “lots of capacity in hospitals”. I call his bluff. 2/
If we want schools to be open in January, we need a circuit breaker now! These are tough decisions. Everyone is tired. But this is going to be the worst wave yet if we don’t do something ASAP.
@fordnation
#onpoli
This is absolutely unbelievable and disgusting move by
@fordnation
and Ministry of health. As someone who works in an inner city Emergency department, we see so many homeless patients, mental health, addictions who don't have enough documentation or ability to get or renew HC 1/
Moore is saying that Ontarians are getting the right care at the right time with a smile on his face no less. I would like to call him on this. Moore should look into the eyes of a patient who got their cancer surgery cancelled when he says this.
Many of our colleagues are getting COVID from their kids and other exposures. This requires us to cover their shifts.We could use the help and perhaps he can appreciate that we can no longer shoulder the burden of any significant increases of COVID patients based on his decisions
Every decision that is made going forward (including today’s reopening) by
@fordnation
with respect to pandemic response has everything to do with Election Day.
#onpoli
These doctors — and nearly 2,000 of their peers — are demanding urgent action to get the third wave under control. Listen to what they have to say | The Star.
@SharkawyMD
@zacfeilchenfeld
@ayeletkuper
@Neilisrad
1/
I’m reminded once again what a privilege it is to be a physician when a family member requires hospital care in Ontario. Our system is not designed to be user friendly. So difficult for patients and families to navigate. We need patient navigators for seniors and complex patients
It’s Easter Sunday 2023 - morning ED Shift. LTC on COVID outbreak. Sending patients to ER. See in EMS hallway. Hospital beds are full. Deja Vu - 3 years later….
Schools in Ontario are opening tomorrow. Please look at the green bar. How are
@fordnation
@Sflecce
able in good conscience to say schools are safe?
@onpoli
.
This is not why we don’t have ambulances. We don’t have ambulances because 1. Paramedics are getting COVID and have to isolate so they are short staffed. 2. EMS crews are waiting in hospital hallways for many hours with patients because we don’t have beds to put them because 2/
No ambulances in the
@cityoftoronto
tonight. A week ago, Scarlett Martin, an exemplary paramedic of 23 years was fired for not vaccinating.
Lives are at risk. Not because Scarlett is unvaccinated, but because
@JohnTory
+
@fordnation
were afraid of being cancelled.
#onpoli
#TOpoli
Busy ER shift today. Saw a high risk patients who hadn’t been vaccinated against covid yet. Took a few minutes to chat about it. She’s worried about her and her family’s risk with mask mandates being removed. She wasn’t anti-vax. She just had some questions & needed reassurance 1
Pfizer and Moderna are both mRNA vaccines. They used the same technology. One isn’t better than the other. Please get the first vaccine you are offered. It will save lives.
@SHNcares
@OntariosDoctors
@DorisGrinspun
13807 new COVID19 cases today. 200 cases in ICU - was 165 a couple of days ago. As predicted, hospitalizations and ICU numbers are creeping up. Not sure what
@fordnation
and
@celliottability
are waiting for. Time to shut down Raptors’ games. Time for a circuit breaker. 1/
Time to mask up. As predicted this is getting out or control. Hospitalizations to follow (already happening). Where is Moore,
@fordnation
and
@celliottability
?
Ontario has the knowledge and tools to limit the size of this wave. We just don't have the intelligence, caring, will, and leadership to do it.
#onhealth
#onpoli
Please walk a mile in my shoes
@fordnation
I’m not sure why you didn’t believe us weeks ago. Is it because I’m “just a community ER physician” in a hard hit area? You ignore us in
#Scarborough
. You ignore your own MPPs pleading for help. 1/
" Sometimes, it’s OK if you feel like weeping." A weak premier played chicken with a ruthless COVID-19 virus. So Doug Ford lurches again via
@torontostar
And yes. The answer might be that we should always wear masks in high risk medical settings. What a novel idea! Trying to prevent spread of infectious diseases to vulnerable people and health care workers.
@ASPphysician
@KashPrime
@SharkawyMD
#onpoli
We aren’t testing anyone anymore. Even those who are eligible don’t realise they can get tested. We have empty capacity now. Can we expand our eligibility now to symptomatic people who are under vaccinated, kids under 18 and everyone over 50?!
@celliottability
1/
626 people are in ICU with
#COVID19
. 85% of patients admitted to the ICU were admitted for COVID-19 and 15% were admitted for other reasons but have tested positive for COVID-19.
There are 3,424 new cases of COVID-19.
@BogochIsaac
I think weekly is too short. We need to see a sustained flattening of the curve and lower case counts. And to be honest, we have been wearing masks for nearly 2 years. It’s not a hardship. This is currently 100% a political decision with election in less than 3 months. 1/
.
@StevenDelDuca
is hitting this out of the park! He is speaking clearly about a well thought out and developed Liberal plan for health care and education. Minimal attacks and more about their platform. 1/
No acknowledgment from Dr Moore that kids are spreaders. They bring COVID home and infect their parents and grandparents. They may not all get “COVID pneumonia”, but being admitted for dehydration, seizure (due to fever trigger), severe asthma are BECAUSE of COVID.
1. Kids (with COVID) typically don't live alone, they have parents/grandparents who could be vulnerable.
2. Kids/teachers (with COVID) can't go to school/work
3. The parents of the ("only") 2 kids in ICU with COVID might view this situation differently from Dr. Moore
I’m really perplexed why
@fordnation
@Sflecce
is once again using private companies. Slippery slope for privatization of health care. We have plenty of open capacity at our
#Scarborough
vaccine clinics so not sure why this is being duplicated.
As we work to get students back to class,
@SylviaJonesMPP
and I announced that 10 additional clinics in the GTHA will offer accelerated access to
#COVID19
booster doses for education & child care staff.
Open 7 days a week, starting today.
Book now:
For those who have been waiting to see increase numbers of hospitalization and increase in ICU admissions, here you go. Just like very other wave, hospitalizations follow cases. There is no “decoupling”
@drmwarner
@SharkawyMD
Ontario hospitalizations update April 12. 1,366 now hospitalized, up 275 (+25.2%) over last week. ICU is now 190, up 17 (+9.8%). New ICU admissions are 22, that's the highest reported since February 10th.
#onhealth
#covid19ontario
#covid19
Celebrating 40 years with my friend and colleague
@NightShiftMD
! Mazel Tov on 40 extraordinary years as a phenomenal caring Emergency physician! Your excitement and enthusiasm at 9 am after an overnight shift is a testament to what an amazing doctor and person you are. 1/
@ColinDMello
DelDuca crushed it. Was honest and spoke really well. Explained his party’s platform very well. Green came second. He also did well. Very disappointed in Horwath. I’ve seen her do much better and she spent too much time attacking Liberals (strange). Ford lost.
Large scale mass vaccination clinics aren’t going to move us from 77%. We need to do lots of community outreach, take vaccine to plazas, door to door canvassing in areas where there is still lower vaccine coverage. 1/
The lineups in Scarborough are a reminder that racialized & low-income communities want vaccines. They just lack access because of an inequitable vaccine rollout.
✖️ Vaccine hesitant
✅ Vaccine confident + limited access
Reallocate vaccines to hotspots or people will die.
I echo this. Mind was racing last night when I got home. Couldn’t sleep. Back up at 4:30 for another shift. Foggy drive on my way to work. Ambulances already rolling in. Living the nightmare 😢
I wake in the stillness of night
Fog descending
Calm only barely distracts
Echoes of grief
Cries of desperation
Tears of the abandoned
My breath freezes
How many more casualties will be ...
Casually accepted
Forgotten
Lost forever
#CovidonMyMind
Tired of the vicious cycle. My hospital is still full with Covid patients. We are still transferring patients to other hospitals. Finally getting a bit of a breather in the ER but we are going to spike yet again. So tired of the same mistakes happening. 1/
Ontario pandemic cycle:
Frontline doctors, health care workers and scientists watch from the sidelines, advocate, plead with the government.
Decisions are made.
Same frontline doctors, health care workers and scientists go to work and face consequences of decision.
Repeat.
No! This is false! We cannot ramp up hospital beds again. We do not have the staff. We can’t afford to cancel non COVID related care again! The number of hypertensive emergencies I have seen this last year is unprecedented. Hypertensive intracranial bleeds, aortic dissections
5/
Media 3: why discuss ICU cap as reason can drop PH measures. Why not keep people out of ICU?
Premier: take advice from CMOH (me: not my FAULT!). Quotes ICU # as stabilized. Can ramp up to over 3.1K new hosp beds,antivirals,learned a lot. V v confident, knew uptick was coming
#BREAKING
: Ontario is planning to shorten intervals for second vaccine doses starting next week for those who are 80 years and older, confirms York Region's Medical Officer of Health.
#onpoli
#covidontario
Heartbreaking loss of a young woman from COViD 19 as told by
@drmwarner
. Look at his eyes. Listen to his voice. Listen to him speak about his patient whose death was unnecessary. Her husband should not have been made to go to work. He should have had
#PaidSickDays
1/
1 Million Canadians have now been infected with
#Covid19
but for families like this who have lost the only person they call "mom" the only number that matters is ONE. There is no quota for this kind of tragedy.
This…. And many people don’t care about us anymore. They just hear “we have hospital capacity”. They don’t see people lying on uncomfortable stretches in the ER waiting for in patient bed. Or the morale injury to healthcare workers for the last 2 years and 5 waves.
I'm worried about my colleagues right now. Doctors, nurses, residents, allied health staff, the ward clerks, everybody. There's nothing left in the tank and no clear strategy for how we're going to avoid crushing the same ppl into fine powder to get through the next Greek letter.
Hey
@fordnation
I agree with you about the 2 dose summer. If you want to know how to make this happen, feel free to pm me. My twitter inbox is open. I’m sure you can find me via email too. 1/
Today I treated a lovely 90 yo patient who lives alone in the emergency department. Asked her if she got her vaccine yet. She said she called and booked it for end of March. I said I could book it
@SHNcares
tomorrow. She told me she needed to take the bus. 1/
Sunday morning ER shift. Saw 4 sick COVID19 patients between 7-9 am! 2 more throughout the morning. 4/6 under 50. Youngest in his 20s. 5/6 ethnic minorities. 5/6 work or exposed to someone who is essential worker. They were all so sick. I wanted to cry, my heart was breaking. 1/
.
@fordnation
just mandated that all Covid assessment centres need to be appt only by Tuesday! Many hospitals don’t have online booking. Many patients don’t have internet, computers etc. 1/
Some things I’m seeing regarding COVID19 lately: 1. Young people don’t perceive how low their oxygen saturation is. They don’t get short of breath until very late and oxygen is very low. 2. Chest X-ray does not help me once I know your COVID19 test is positive. 1/
Yesterday I went into a Seniors building near
#Tendercare
to vaccinate 200 seniors over 70. Many were nearly 90. We have many more buildings like this to do. We just need the vaccine allocation.
Almost 9000 doses of COVID19 vaccine given yesterday
@SHNcares
! 2 pop ups (M1M and M1B), 5 clinics, seniors buildings and homeless shelter.
#ScarboroughSprint
Thanks to all the amazing clerks, nurses, pharmacists, physicians, EVS and security staff. Let’s keep going! 1/
We are having a summer reprieve from COVID19. We will have another “wave” in the fall. The extent of this “wave” will depend on the success of our vaccination efforts. We need to aim for 90% of the population over 12 in Ontario to be fully vaccinated. 1/
My mom’s 70+ year old family Dr is retiring. No one to take over his practice. Over 2000 patients will be left without a family doctor - most of them over 65. What is
@fordnation
doing about this? And no, the answer isn’t pharmacist or NPs alone.
@OntarioCollege
@OntariosDoctors
I called one of our vaccine clinics which is located in our hospital and asked if she could come down when I discharged her to get her vaccine. They were happy to accommodate. One of our nurses took her to get her COViD 19 vaccine. 2/
BREAKING: Sources tell
@CP24
/
@CTVNews
updated modelling to show 12,000 – 18,000 cases a day, based on current trend.
ICU
#s
could be up to 1,600 – 1,800 by end of May. This as case # reaches all-time high today: 4736 COVID-19 cases.
#onpoli
Reviewing the plans we made in March 2020 expecting the worse. Who thought the worse would come a year later. This is an epic failure of
@fordnation
and Ontario Public Health. We need new leadership now.
This can’t be said enough. We don’t have the specially trained nurses, RTs and other HCW to take care of patients in extra beds. Number of “available” beds does not equal # of “usable” beds.
@fordnation
@celliottability
@AnthonyDaleOHA
There’s a ton of talk of creating ICU beds so here’s a short breakdown.
ICU beds being created vs ICU beds we need.
A bed doesn’t come with a nurse, RT, physio, nutritionist, aide, porter, or Intensivist.
You ignore the fact that we have been transferring patients to Kingston, Peterborough, Orillia and Coburg for weeks. Now it’s Sick kids. You ignored our pleas for vaccine for months. We asked for an equitable approach yet our population is in dire need and our appts are full. 2/
@imgrund
@kwadwo777
We are definitely in a third wave now. Seeing younger patients and really sick. Started last week and getting worse. You know it’s bad when an ER doc is putting a patient in prone in the ED 😔. Today we had numerous sick Covid patients being admitted both to COViD ward and ICU.
😢. Saw a patient this week in ER. Kids and grandchildren all had Covid. One of her kids in laws was in ICU in another hospital. Index case didn’t know how they got exposed. Ripped though 3 generations of this family. 10 people infected. VOCs are nothing like I’ve ever seen.
We try to do Zoom calls with families right before intubation.
My last was with a patient who’s child was on the call while admitted to another hospital with COVID on oxygen. Half the rest of the family was isolating at home with symptoms.
COVID tears families apart.
ER volumes are higher than I’ve ever seen before. Thanks to the amazing senior nurse who offered to stay 4 hours past her shift last night so that we could open a satellite part of our ED to see ++ patients. I was asked to come in on call but our volume of patient exceeded space
@BogochIsaac
Let the school year finish and discuss this in the summer. Let our kids have their best chance and uninterrupted school and activities without higher risk of isolating from getting colds or COVID
We have pop ups all over the city of Toronto with no lines, yet
@fordnation
felt it needed to hire a private company to do vaccine clinics? Still having trouble figuring out the rationale.
4/6 sick Covid 19 patients that I saw in ER yesterday were under 50! Oxygen saturations were so low. These patients were breathless. Messages like this are harmful. You have now confused people in high risk areas and make them feel like they are less worthy. 1/
"If for instance my sister got the AZ vaccine and died of a thrombosis when I know it could have been prevented and that she is not in a high risk area, I'm not sure I could live with it" - Dr. Quach, from NACI with
@EvanLSolomon
on
@CTV_PowerPlay
Sadly this will be the final nail in the coffin for family medicine in Canada. With the baby boomers retiring, every specialty is in need and medical students will pick better remunerated specialties that will take an extra 1-2 years than 3 year family medicine program. 1/
Disappointing news that we all saw coming. The most impactful hit will be a significant reduction in the interest in residency training spots in family medicine. This will also lead to the devaluing of the CCFP emergency medicine stream. Terrible decision.
I’m seriously baffled! We are in dire trouble. Every ED shift I work, I’m seeing sick COVID patients. Our numbers are climbing at an alarming rate.
@fordnation
@celliottability
you can’t ignore this anymore. Every Public Health physician have concerns about your framework!
I'm beyond proud of
@UHN
for leading with science & compassion. They issued a memo stating that "masks will continue to be required for everyone in all clinical patient-facing areas & public areas of hospital buildings where patients/visitors may be present." This is how to lead.