More patients transferred out of overcrowded Hamilton area hospitals due to Omicron
Hamilton hospitals have so many COVID patients that six more have been transferred out of the area.
At the same time, 13 more Hamiltonians have died of COVID - including a woman in her 50s - during a sharp spike in deaths.
To help prevent severe illness, a Hamilton infectious disease doctor is alerting those at high-risk to get tested as soon as they get sick so they can get treatment.
The first step is getting care as early as possible," Dr. Zain Chagla tweeted Monday.
St. Joseph's Healthcare has closed its vaccination clinic at the West 5th Campus to free up workers on the heels of Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) doing the same at the West End Clinic. The closures come as demand is dropping - despite only 53 per cent of eligible residents having their boosters.
Those who worked at the West 5th clinic over the past 14 months reflected on Twitter about 181,000 shots administered at the site since December 2020.
Opening the clinic marked a major shift from playing defence against the COVID-19 virus to offence," said clinic manager Richard Orlicki. Administering the vaccines felt like we were offering hope, especially to the most vulnerable among us."
Nurse Leah Joy Hilario said, It gave me a sense of ease to know that there are people out there who want to make a difference and be part of the solution in ending this pandemic."
Hamilton medical officer of health Dr. Elizabeth Richardson said last week that hospital vaccine clinics had to close to reallocate needed resources across a strained health-care system."
HHS also temporarily closed urgent care at the West End Clinic, while St. Joseph's reduced the hours of its King Campus urgent care.
The goal is to redeploy staff as hospitals struggle with 341 workers self-isolating. In addition, HHS fired 178 staff over COVID vaccines.
The number of hospital workers isolating has dropped from 1,032 on Jan. 17. But the hospitals haven't yet seen a similar decrease in COVID admissions - in contrast to a provincewide downward trend.
St. Joseph's and HHS were caring for 270 COVID patients Monday, including 38 in the intensive care unit. It's down from 309 on Jan. 17, but up from 255 on Jan 25.
HHS reported severe overcrowding Monday, with more patients than funded beds at Hamilton General and Juravinski hospitals.
As a result, area hospitals transferred out six more patients in the last week to bring the total to 21 between Jan. 9 and Jan. 30. The patients have been sent out of an area that includes Hamilton, Burlington, Niagara, Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk. No information has been provided about how far away they've gone.
The transfers are a measure of the strain, as normally the hospitals spread out the load between them. It's the first time in the pandemic they've sent patients away.
The public health units in this area are mostly among the bottom one-third of the province for booster shots. Haldimand-Norfolk has 50 per cent of eligible residents with three doses, Brant is at 52 per cent, while Hamilton and Niagara are at 53 per cent. Halton is well ahead at 57 per cent.
The lowest booster rate is Peel at 43 per cent and the highest is the Kingston area at 66 per cent.
Hamilton has seen demand fall significantly from more than 10,000 shots a day on Dec. 21 and 22, to fewer than 3,000 daily since Jan 22. Most days are well below 2,000.
It's significant considering fewer than 50 per cent of children age five to 11 have had one shot.
In addition, three doses provides greater protection from severe illness than two shots. In fact, the city is focusing on getting seniors in congregate living a fourth dose.
It comes as Hamilton has reported 48 COVID deaths from Jan. 19 to Jan. 31 to bring the pandemic toll up to 484 fatalities. Of those, 13 were reported Friday to Monday.
The new deaths are eight seniors age 80 and over, three residents in their 70s, one Hamiltonian in their 60s and the woman in her 50s.
While the vast majority of pandemic deaths have been seniors age 60 and over, there have been 19 fatalities among those age 30 to 59. Since Jan, 19, two women in their 50s and a man in his 40s have died.
The city has also recorded new deaths in outbreaks, including two at Arbour Creek Care Centre, where 89 have been infected and four have died; two at St. Joseph's Villa, where 36 have tested positive; one at Idlewyld Manor with 15 cases; and two at the Meadows Long Term Care Home, where 59 have been infected and three have died.
Of Hamilton's 58 active outbreaks, 27 were in seniors' homes including the city's largest ongoing outbreak at Heritage Green Nursing Home, where 110 have tested positive. Other large outbreaks include 61 cases at Extendicare Hamilton and 77 cases at the Wellington, where two have died.
Hamilton's hospitals had nine outbreaks, including one with a new death reported at Hamilton General on the 8W medicine unit. In addition, there were 12 outbreaks in shelters, nine in group homes, community living and assisted living, and one in a rehabilitation centre.
Those at risk of severe COVID should get tested as soon as they develop symptoms so they can get treatment such as monoclonal antibodies. St. Joseph's Healthcare has given out more than 225 doses of the therapy since October, with the clinic significantly scaling up during Omicron to 10 to 12 doses a day from two to three.
Chagla says they are still trying to squeeze more in," but the biggest barrier has been getting to patients early as testing has been difficult to access.
Chagla says those at highest risk include adults age 60 and older or Indigenous adults age 50 and older who have not had two COVID shots. In addition, immunocompromised adults age 18 and older regardless of vaccination status.
There have been very few hospitalization after therapy, with many high risk people ... having recoveries at home with no issue," said Chagla.
Joanna Frketich is a health reporter at The Spectator. jfrketich@thespec.com