People experiencing cardiovascular emergencies seem to be avoiding hospital emergency rooms due to fears of COVID-19, putting their health at risk, according to a new report.
Data compiled by Heart and Stroke and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society found that visits to Ontario emergency departments for ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarctions (STEMI) — a very serious type of heart attack — fell by nearly 30 per cent in the period between March 16 and April 12, compared to the same period a year earlier.
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Similar numbers from Vancouver Coastal Health show a 40 per cent drop in STEMI patients over the same time last year.
“This last weekend was a good example,” said Dr. Andrew Krahn, a cardiologist and president of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society.
“In downtown Vancouver, there’s an on-call group that looks after acute heart attacks. And they for one weekend actually had none, which was the first time in 11 years.”
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According to data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, there were 26,950 emergency department visits for heart attacks in the 2018-19 fiscal year, corresponding to an average of about 74 visits per day across Canada.
“This data is distressing because there is no reason to believe that fewer events are happening,” Krahn said.
“There’s no plausible reason why COVID-19 should make for less heart attacks or strokes, for example. So what’s happening is we’re seeing less and less of these because people stay home when they happen.”
Reports from Spain and the U.S. have also shown similar drops in hospital visits for cardiovascular trouble.
1:45 Busy ER doctor tells hospital patients in need not to stay away
Busy ER doctor tells hospital patients in need not to stay away
Delaying medical care can have huge implications for someone’s health, Krahn said.
If you have a stroke, for example, “You have two or three hours, after which you’re going to be disabled.”
“Many of these things that involve in particular acute heart problems, they have treatments that need to be delivered within hours or a day, quickly, to try to prevent the damage that is going to happen.”
Delaying treatment also means that when patients do arrive at the hospital, they’re often sicker and there’s less that doctors can do to help, he said.
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Because of this, he worries that there will be a “surge” in very sick patients down the line, which could overwhelm hospital resources — particularly when added to the growing backlog of elective and non-emergent surgeries that were postponed due to COVID-19.
“It’ll create a burden on our ability to diagnose and see and manage those people who are sicker.”
Dr. Jeff Shaw, a Calgary cardiologist and internal medicine specialist, tweeted earlier in April that he was unable to save a patient who didn’t come to the hospital until it was too late.
“I lost the battle to save a patient last night because they waited too long to come to the hospital,” he wrote.
I lost the battle to save a patient last night because they waited to long to come to the hospital. I know their is a lot of fear of hospitals now and concern about being turned away. If you are sick and need help, hospitals are safe and are ready to look after you.
“I’m afraid that there could be patients who have treatable issues who come in too late or get complications from the issues that could have been prevented had they shown up earlier,” he told Global News.
Krahn says he understands that people are nervous about going to a hospital at a time when health authorities are urging people to stay home to avoid getting sick. But going to hospital doesn’t mean that you will catch the novel coronavirus, he said.
“People might forget that 80 to 90 per cent of COVID-19 patients are in the community, most of them are isolated in their homes,” he said.
Hospitals have protection systems to “wall off” suspected COVID-19 patients from those who are coming in with other ailments, he said, “so hospitals and emergency rooms are safe.”
Emergency rooms have also planned for the pandemic, Shaw said, so patients shouldn’t fear being turned away.
3:45 Healthy Living: Precautions, signs and symptoms of a stroke
Healthy Living: Precautions, signs and symptoms of a stroke
If you suspect that you’re having a major cardiac problem, like a heart attack or a stroke, Krahn urges you to go to the emergency room or call 911 as you normally might.
“The reality is the risk of contracting COVID-19 and then being so sick that it has a terrible outcome and so on is extraordinarily small compared to having an acute medical emergency where the consequences are real and personal and warrant attention.”
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Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:
Health officials caution against all international travel. Returning travellers are legally obligated to self-isolate for 14 days, beginning March 26, in case they develop symptoms and to prevent spreading the virus to others. Some provinces and territories have also implemented additional recommendations or enforcement measures to ensure those returning to the area self-isolate.
Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.
To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out.
For full COVID-19 coverage from Global News, click here.
The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
