Crisis exposed flaws in health-care system that must urgently be addressed: experts
The World Health Organization has ended the global COVID-19 emergency, citing increased immunity, fewer deaths and less pressure on hospitals. But while the situation with the virus has improved worldwide, it has also exposed major issues with Canada’s health-care system
Canadian experts said Friday that regardless of WHO’s decision, COVID will remain a challenge to public health for years to come and has left lasting scars on the health-care system
Dr. Bonnie Henry, British Columbia’s provincial health officer and chair of the Council of Chief Medical Officers of Health, told CBC News that while the emergency phase of the pandemic is ending, COVID shed light on problems in long-term care and hospitals that need to be addressed
We have to pay attention to ensuring that we have that surge capacity in our health-care system
she said, adding that COVID also exposed basic societal inequities
around pay and staffing in the system
This is another virus that is in our communities, it’s going to be with us for a period of time and it adds to that baseline number of people that are going to require hospital care periodically in our community
Henry said So we need to add that on top of, and not go back to, the very stretched system we had before
The pandemic, which was first declared an international crisis by WHO, the United Nations’ health agency, on Jan. 30, 2020, resulted in unprecedented lockdowns, economic upheaval and the deaths of at least seven million people worldwide and more than 52,000 people in Canada.
But the death toll is likely much higher than reported, and WHO estimates it could be more than 20 million globally
It’s with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency
WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said FridayThat does not mean COVID-19 is over as a global health threat
Following WHO’s declaration, the Public Health Agency of Canada said in a statement that it will continue its work with provinces and territories to implement a long-term, sustainable approach to the ongoing management of COVID-19
WHO SAYS COVID-19 IS NO LONGER A GLOBAL HEALTH EMERGENCY
World Health Organization director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says population immunity has increased from vaccination and infection, and the pressure on health systems from COVID-19 has eased
Lessons for a fragile health-care system
COVID hospitalizations still remain stubbornly high in Canada, with 2,881 hospital beds occupied by COVID patients across the country, according to the latest federal data, despite continuing to decline since the beginning of the year. But the numbers are a far cry from where they once were
We had some very, very challenging times with COVID
said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases physician at Toronto General Hospital, recalling instances where adults had to be treated in pediatric wards and authorities built tents outside ERs to treat the overflow of patients in the spring of 2021
He said that WHO’s declaration should be treated as an opportunity to reflect on the country’s flawed health-care system and how it can be improved going forward
In many parts of the country, emergency rooms remain under immense strain despite the decline in COVID hospitalizations
It’s a patchwork of many different systems that don’t necessarily fit well together
Bogoch said
Many people working in health care would have told you this years before the pandemic, but it was exposed during the pandemic
Dr. Prabhat Jha, a professor of global health epidemiology at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health, said the global reality is that we now have stronger population immunity from a combination of infection and vaccination — but the crisis isn’t over
We still have incredible challenges when it comes to our health-care system, particularly when it comes to primary health
he said, adding that vaccination infrastructure needs to be maintained in Canada for COVID and other viruses to prevent a further burden on hospitals
What is needed is to strengthen public health systems, strengthen the surveillance, the ability to get out rapid tests and vaccination. In peacetime, you don’t let the entire infrastructure erode
More than 77 per cent of Canadian adults and close to 90 per cent of young adults (aged 17 to 24) are estimated to have previously had the disease as of mid-January, according to national blood donor data from the federal government’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force
Those high levels of infection, combined with the more than 83 per cent of Canadians who’ve received at least two doses of a COVID vaccine, better treatment access and less severe infections than previous strains, have led to stronger immune protection against a virus that continues to spread globally
But only about two thirds of Canadians over the age of 60 have been previously infected, and fewer than 20 per cent have received a shot in the past few months, meaning there is still a significant part of the population vulnerable to infection and hospitalization
Past and future challenges
Experts have warned that the pandemic’s ongoing burden on the health-care system will be felt for years to come, with long COVID affecting a subset of those infected, and delays for cancer screenings and surgeries causing massive backlogs in Canada’s system
Dawn Bowdish, an associate professor at McMaster University in Hamilton and a Canada Research Chair in Aging and Immunity, said maintaining vaccination rates, particularly among more vulnerable populations, will be crucial going forward
Benjamin Shingler, Adam Miller · CBC News
