Beds are filling up rapidly, with a record 2,472 COVID-19 patients in hospital as of Friday, compared to 508 two weeks earlier. The situation inside hospitals is compounded by the rising number of doctors, nurses and other staff who have to isolate because they’ve contracted the virus or been exposed to it. It said some patients were being transferred to other hospitals, and it paused its virtual urgent care service to redeploy resources. “Staffing in some units is a challenge that is being mitigated daily,” hospital spokeswoman Cheryl Evans said in an email. A spokeswoman for St. Mary’s General Hospital, also in Kitchener, Ont., said 89 of its 1,700 staff were isolating.

Source: thestar January 07, 2022 17:58 UTC