Will mask mandates return amid surges in kids hospitals? Trudeau, Ford won’t say | 24CA News

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he’s “extremely worried” concerning the realities going through youngsters and households throughout Canada as excessive ranges of respiratory sickness amongst children proceed to swamp pediatric hospitals throughout the nation.

The scenario is so dire in components of Ontario that the Red Cross is coming to assistance from the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), which needed to open a second intensive care unit final month to deal with what it referred to as an unprecedented variety of critically sick infants and youngsters.

“As a father, but also as a leader, I’m extremely worried about what Canadian kids are facing right now — families really worried about whether or not they’re going to be able to get their kids to hospitals, not just at CHEO in Ottawa but right across the country,” Trudeau instructed reporters throughout an occasion in Ingersoll, Ont., Monday.

At the nationwide degree, influenza exercise has continued to extend steeply after having been declared an epidemic by Health Canada in mid-November.

Children and youths are being hit notably exhausting by the early onset of the flu over the previous few weeks.

The IMPACT community of 12 pediatric hospitals in Canada continues to report elevated ranges of flu-associated hospitalizations amongst youngsters aged 16 years and youthful.

For the week ending Nov. 26, 223 influenza-associated pediatric hospitalizations had been reported in these hospitals — a quantity that’s “above levels typically seen at the peak of the influenza season,” which is often in January or February, in accordance with the most recent obtainable FluWatch report.

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This is along with viral outbreaks of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) amongst youngsters and infants throughout Canada and ongoing transmission of COVID-19.

When requested whether or not Ottawa could be prepared to reintroduce federal masks mandates to sluggish the unfold of those respiratory diseases, notably RSV, which doesn’t have a vaccine, Trudeau mentioned solely that he would proceed heeding the recommendation of consultants.

“When it comes to looking at the challenges faced by respiratory illnesses, or perhaps a resurgence of the pandemic, we’re going to make sure we’re listening to the best advice from experts and public health authorities to make sure we’re doing whatever is necessary to keep Canadians safe.”

Trudeau additionally inspired all Canadians to make sure they’re updated with their COVID-19 vaccines and boosters and guarantee they get a flu shot this yr.

The most dominant pressure circulating in Canada this yr is included on this yr’s flu vaccine, which consultants say is constructive. However, the H3N2 strains are likely to trigger extra extreme infections, Matthew Miller, director of the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research at McMaster University, instructed Global News final month.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford mentioned he has been in “constant communication” with health-care officers concerning the pressures going through emergency departments, notably at pediatric hospitals.

But Ford, too, sidestepped a query about whether or not his authorities would herald masks mandates, and as a substitute pointed to investments his authorities has made so as to add extra capability to the well being system.

“We’re throwing everything we can at the health-care system, including investing over $40 billion in 50 sites across Ontario,” Ford mentioned.

Ford added that the province’s chief medical officer, Dr. Kieran Moore, has suggested him that whereas there could also be a spike in pediatric sickness in Ottawa at CHEO, instances in Toronto are “levelling off.”

Neither Trudeau nor Ford had been carrying masks throughout their public look in Ingersoll Monday, which included a lot of contributors.

Meanwhile, youngsters’s hospitals throughout the nation proceed to report vital strains attributable to affected person surges attributable to respiratory sickness.

In Calgary, Alberta Health Services mentioned it’s discharging all youngsters from the Rotary Flames House in Calgary, which helps dying youngsters and their households and is pausing admissions to the home attributable to a surge in youngsters with the flu, RSV and COVID-19.

Children’s hospitals in Calgary and Edmonton have been at or above 100 per cent capability since final week, whereas some routine surgical procedures and appointments at a youngsters’s hospital in St. John’s, N.L., are being cancelled subsequent as a result of surge in diseases and admissions.

— with recordsdata from The Canadian Press