OTTAWA – With Canada on track to see as many as 10,000 cases per day by December, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pleaded with Canadians Friday to hunker down before the COVID-19 pandemic starts to exceed government resources.
“We have to reverse these trends now,” he said. “We must flatten the curve now before it gets any worse.”
Cases have been rising in most parts of the country for weeks and Canada set a new daily record of new diagnoses on Thursday.
More than 282,000 people have been diagnosed with the virus and an average of 55 people are dying from it everyday.
On Thursday alone, nearly 5,000 cases were found and 83 people in the country died.
“Fires are burning in so many different areas and right now is the time to get those under control,” said Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer.
She said at the current pace Canada could expect to see 10,000 cases per day by early December. She said that will further strain health care resources that are already struggling with the surge.
“Hospitals are being forced to make the difficult decision to cancel elective surgeries and procedures in areas of the country, and healthcare workers everywhere are exhausted,” she said.
Trudeau held a call with Canada’s premiers Thursday night. Earlier this week, he encouraged them not to be hesitant in imposing new restrictions and lockdowns if the data is moving in the right direction and said the federal government would be there to support businesses and workers.
He said acting early is much better than waiting.
“The science, the body of evidence that’s out there, across the country, and indeed around the world shows clearly what best practices are moving quickly and firmly, is far better than delaying and hoping that individual behaviour will itself bend the curve.”
Trudeau did offer Red Cross support to Manitoba, which has been hit particularly badly with a second wave and needs help for long-term care homes where dozens have died. Trudeau left it out of his initial statement about the meeting, but he also agreed to meet with provincial premiers in early December to discuss provincial health transfers. The provinces have called for the federal government to permanently pay for more of the cost of health care.
The federal government has offered additional testing capacity and contact tracing as well as access to PPE, but Trudeau said if cases escalate the government does not have unlimited resources to help.
“There is a threshold beyond which, when the cases spike too much, we might have to make really difficult choices about where to deploy the limited resources we have,” he said.
A source familiar with the conversation said the premiers were generally in agreement on the need for more restrictions to slow the virus, with new restrictions likely coming to hard hit provinces in the next few days.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford moved on Friday, lowering his government’s thresholds for imposing restrictions by more than half and putting most of the Greater Toronto Area into the red zone, the highest level of restrictions.
Those restrictions severely limit indoor dining and gyms, close movie theatres and other spaces. The only remaining level of restrictions for those health regions is a full and complete lockdown.
Modelling Ontario released on Thursday showed the government could be seeing 6,500 cases a day in a few weeks’ time, potentially overwhelming the province’s critical care bed capacity.
“The impact on our hospital would be absolutely devastating. As premier I can’t accept that and I won’t accept that,” said Ford. “These adjustments are necessary to respond to the latest evidence and we may need to make further adjustments.”
Ontario’s thresholds were originally higher than many public health experts recommended, including experts the government consulted who suggested they should be higher.
Ford pleaded with people to modify their behaviour and said he is prepared to go further if that is what is required.
“You have already sacrificed so much, but we need to be clear about what is at stake. We are staring down the barrel of another lockdown,” he said.
Ford has not been alone in ramping up restrictions, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister brought in tighter rules for his province on Tuesday.
And Alberta premier Jason Kenney has also taken some small measures to tighten restrictions in his provinces, forcing bars and restaurants to close earlier in the evening and suspending indoor fitness classes.
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