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'It's time to pay attention': Sask. doctors expect increased pressure on hospitals as COVID-19 cases rise

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Doctors in Saskatchewan are expecting hospitalizations to increase in the coming days and weeks as COVID-19 cases continue to climb across the province.

On Tuesday, 1,954 more cases were added from Jan. 1 to 4. The province said more than half of those are probable Omicron cases.

The province also reported 95 people in hospital with the virus, which is an increase of 16 from the previous count on Friday.

Dr. Cory Neudorf, a professor of community health and epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan, said the increase in hospitalizations is both concerning and expected.

“We know that hospitalizations tend to lag case numbers by a couple of weeks. We saw cases starting to go up a couple of weeks ago and so we’re certainly expecting [hospitalizations] to go up now,” he said.

Intensive care admissions have not increased at this point, but Dr. Neudorf said they could be coming.

“[ICU admissions] tend to be more about a month or so behind the cases, so it’ll be another couple of weeks yet before we start to see whether ICU admissions are going to go up as well,” Dr. Neudorf said.

Last week, Premier Scott Moe said the province would like to avoid further public health measures if hospitalizations don’t increase.

Dr. Dennis Kendel, a physician and public health consultant, said the increase of 16 over the long weekend is significant.

“It’s time to pay attention. The hospital system is going to be more stressed and this is probably just the beginning of that process,” Dr. Kendel said. “We are going to see more pressure on our hospitals, there’s no doubt about that.”

There are a few things Dr. Neudorf said should be taken into account when considering hospital admissions with the most recent COVID-19 surge.

He said although the Omicron variant does appear to be less severe than others, its high transmission rate is what could impact hospitals.

“Such a high number of people end up getting it, including reinfections or breakthrough infections with immunization, that the actual number of people needing hospitalization or ICU might not be much different than the more severe form of Delta,” he said. “We could still get into a situation where the healthcare system is strained, even with the less severe form of COVID-19, just because the numbers are so big in total.”

Dr. Neudorf said the key to avoiding health care strain is to keep numbers down or spread them out over time. He said vaccination, specifically a third dose, is vital for this strain of the virus.

Although the province has not implemented further restrictions, Dr. Neudorf said the public can help slow the spread by masking more often and with better quality masks, limiting their contacts and shrinking gathering sizes.

“I would certainly encourage government to institute similar gathering restrictions to what we’ve seen in other provinces, but in the absence of that people should be using some common sense and recognizing they should be taking action themselves,” he said.

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