Alberta doctors warn health care system on verge of collapse
A group of Alberta doctors are warning the health care system in the province could collapse under the weight of surging COVID hospitalizations by early October unless the province takes decisive action.
"It will not be able to handle people who come in with complications from their pregnancy, or who've been in more vehicle collisions, or who need life saving cancer surgery," said Dr. James Talbot, one of the authors of the warning.
He said in addition to hundreds of cancelled surgeries due to staffing shortages, the medical system is preparing to start using a triage protocol for patients, in other words deciding who will get the increasingly limited resources available.
"Plan for a situation in which you would not have enough beds for everyone. And that's what the triage protocol is. It's about who lives and who dies,” Talbot, a former Alberta chief medical officer of health said.
He said the dire projections do not take into account accelerated spread caused by the return to school or increased indoor gatherings with the coming cooler weather.
He also called the $100 vaccination incentive program a "failure."
"This wave is going to get significantly worse. And I can't give a time for when it will stop being worse because no effective precautions have been taken."
Hospitalizations have reached 803 as of Monday with 198 of those in Intensive Care Units. The vast majority are not fully vaccinated and have increasingly included younger patients.
According to AHS 71.2 per cent of Albertans age 12 and over are fully vaccinated. Infectious disease experts say it will likely take 90 per cent of the population to be fully vaccinated in order to prevent surges in cases and hospitalizations.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.