Despite decline in patients, Waterloo hospitals remain ‘under great pressure’: Wang

COVID-19 patients in area hospitals continues to decline but that has not relieved the pressure on hospitals, according to the region’s top doctor.According to Friday’s dashboard update, there are 75 patients in the three hospitals in Waterloo Region, including 20 who are in need of intensive care.

Premier Doug Ford declares state of emergency amid protests at land border and in Ottawa Three weeks ago, on Jan. 21, there were 145 people in hospitals, with 27 needing intensive care.That said, the hospitals now have to deal with the backlog of people in need of surgery or procedures created by the many waves of COVID-19.“Our health-care system continues to be under great pressure due to the number of patients hospitalized in the ICU with COVID-19 and the need to ramp up delayed surgeries and procedures soon as possible,” Dr.

Hsiu-Li Wang said during Friday’s media update.And we may not be in the clear yet as she said things seemed to have plateaued in the area according to wastewater data.In addition, Waterloo Public Health reported 94 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the current case total to 39,512.This causes the rolling seven-day-average number of new cases to climb to 93.9 from 93.7, the first time in weeks it has gone up, although very incrementally.The number of active cases dropped once again, and now sits at 1039, down from 1,427 a week earlier.And for the second straight day, no new COVID-19-related deaths were reported, leaving the death toll in the area at 381 including 22 victims so far in February.The number of active outbreaks in high-risk areas continues to fall as well, as 40 remain in the area including 19 in long-term-care or retirement homes, 11 in hospitals and 10 in congregate settings.The.