It's going to get worse before it gets better.
That's from Bluewater Health's Chief of Staff Dr. Mike Haddad as the number of hospitalizations has more than quadrupled over the past two weeks.
On CHOK (103.9FM/1070AM) with Sue Storr Wednesday, Dr. Haddad said he doesn't believe the latest restrictions imposed by the province will significantly ease the pressure on hospitals and the healthcare system.
"Honestly, no," said Dr. Haddad. "I'm more, we have a virus, it's out there, you can't put that genie in the bottle again. Even looking at Australia that went draconian with their restrictions and lockdowns for two years, they have 60,000 cases today or something like that, it's crazy. So, we need to immunize the population against this virus and all its variants."
About 76 per cent of local residents aged five and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and 81 per cent have had one dose.
Dr. Haddad said the vaccine is safe, and is encouraging residents who haven't yet, to get their shot.
"The number of COVID cases in the community now reported by Lambton Public Health at around 1,300, I can tell you is probably more like 4,000 to 5,000, we just can't test everybody," he said. "If we were back in March 2020 or even in early 2021 without vaccination, that would have translated to about 300 to 400 people in the hospital. So, now having around 30 people in the hospital, it's only 10 per cent. So things have worked but we're still not 100 per cent."
"The misinformation is literally killing people out there," said Dr. Haddad. "Even nowadays, while the vaccine it's not stopping the initial infections, it is stopping more severe disease; unless even if you're vaccinated, you're still at risk of getting severe disease if you're immunocompromised. But, if you're someone between five and 70 and you're healthy and immunocompetent, even double vaccination is working really well to mitigate the impact of disease so you don't end up in our ICU or die."
Bluewater Health is asking residents to stay home when possible, follow public health measures including masking, and to be kind to others.
On Tuesday the hospital reopened its COVID-dedicated medical unit and all non-urgent surgeries were suspended so that staff can be redeployed to help COVID care.
with files from Natalia Vega