The easing of health measures announced Tuesday by the Legault government is difficult to understand for some stakeholders who note that the situation is still difficult in hospitals.
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This is the case of Dr. Joseph Dahine, intensive care doctor at the Cité-de-la-Santé hospital in Laval, who continues to see COVID patients flood in, and non-COVID patients, sicker than ever.
The reduction in sanitary measures is “a little difficult to understand for ordinary mortals and even for us on the ground”, he explains in an interview with Mario Dumont.
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“The guiding principle of any announcement or dialogue between government and the public is to be one of trust, and for there to be that trust, there needs to be consistency. Last week we were talking about the prioritization guide for hospitalizations, ”he notes.
While the government allows a reopening of restaurants and cinemas alleging that the outbreaks are not there, “why have they closed”, asks Dr. Dahine.
“It was very drastic the closings at Christmas, New Year’s Day, we remember. If it was to tell people that the situation was catastrophic in hospitals, well, we are still there. It’s a bit like that when I talk about the search for coherence,” he adds.
The specialist in emergency medicine has noticed in the past week that the number of patients he treats in intensive care has increased significantly.
“I finished my week on call with twice as many patients as when I started. We ended up with 10 patients in intensive care, plus two who have been there for over a month!”
Even if certain signals seem to indicate a possible drop in future hospitalizations, this is not the case in intensive care, where it may take longer.
“We’ve been in this movie over and over for two years. The health system is going to be under pressure for several weeks, for months to come before COVID cases decrease and patients leave.