Windsor Regional Hospital expects 'difficult month' amid new wave of COVID-19

Officials with Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH) are expecting to see COVID-19 hospitalizations rise in the coming weeks, as experts say the province has entered the pandemic's sixth wave.

"We're not in crisis mode, but it's not tracking in the right direction," WRH president and CEO David Musyj told reporters following a virtual hospital board meeting on Thursday afternoon.

There are currently 38 COVID-19 patients at Windsor Regional Hospital, which includes some who have tested positive for COVID-19 but were admitted for other reasons.

An increase in hospitalizations was expected given the lifting of most COVID-19 measures in the province last month, but what remains to be seen is just how big the spike will be, Musyj said.

"We are expecting the month of April to be a difficult month, heading into May," he said.

COVID-19 testing is only available to a limited population in Ontario, so it's unclear how many cases are active in this region, but analysis of local wastewater data suggests the presence of the virus is growing rapidly.

Musyj said it was consistent with the start of a new wave — the impact of which he hopes will be blunted by vaccination levels.

He doesn't expect to see the virus peak in the community for two or three more weeks, and few weeks after that is when he expects hospitalizations to hit their peak.

The hospital, however, is already operating over capacity. And at the same time, health-care providers have been working to clear a backlog of non-emergency surgeries that were put on hold earlier in the pandemic.

Chief nursing executive Karen Riddell said she anticipates the hospital will manage this wave as it has the others, but measures could be taken to handle a surge in patients.

"We have more patients waiting for a bed in the hospital than we have beds for," she said. "So, if we think about that, we're still ... trying to get caught up with surgeries. If the volumes of COVID coming in spike up, then we're going to have to ramp down surgery or other services in order to accommodate that."

So far, the hospital is not seeing as many staff sidelined due to COVID-19 as it did during the previous wave, but Musyj expects the number will grow in tandem with the level of infection in the community.

According to Dr. Wassim Saad, the hospital's chief of staff, the province moved too fast in ending COVID-19 restrictions, but he thinks most of those who are vulnerable are continuing to take precautions like masking.

"If you ask any health-care provider, we were all sort of wary about the abrupt lifting of all mandates and opening up fairly quickly. I think most people would agree that it was done too fast and abruptly," he said.

Given the lifting of those COVID-19 mandates, people need to make a risk assessment based on their own situation,  Saad said.

"If you are elderly, if you have medical comorbidities, if you have more than one risk factor for severe COVID infection, you should not be going out unmasked and interacting in the general population or enclosed spaces where there's poor ventilation, or indoor gatherings," Saad said.

If you interact with these vulnerable populations, you have to consider that as well, Musyj added.