Health minister’s office says public sector strikes are partly to blame
Dec 04, 2023
Physicians are warning that a surge in respiratory viruses is starting to clog up Quebec’s emergency rooms and many of them are well above capacity.
According to Amélie Boisclair, an intensive care internist at Pierre-Le Gardeur Hospital, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza and COVID-19 are the main viruses currently circulating.
“It’s no secret that emergency departments have been overflowing for some time now,” she said.
“But now, we’re really in the middle of the respiratory virus season, and you can see that people are coming in one after the other. Sometimes they’re in such bad shape that they need intensive care.”
Matthew Oughton, an attending physician in the Jewish General Hospital’s infectious diseases division, said it’s normal to see an increase in influenza at the end of November and early December.
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/respiratory-viruses-clog-up-emergency-rooms-quebec-1.7047960