Even in her 80s, Josephine Moschitto still cheered on her beloved Toronto Blue Jays, went grocery shopping near her retirement home, and had recently discovered the joys of playing Wordle on her iPad.
The Mississauga, Ont., resident lost her husband of six decades in early 2021, and had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. But she was healthy, mobile and still enjoyed time with family, including a lunch with her loved ones in September.
“And she looked perfectly fine,” her son Victor recalled. “We were all talking, laughing … then a week later, circumstances changed.”
That’s when Josephine started showing symptoms of COVID-19. And, despite her having received four vaccine doses, the virus took a serious toll.
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The 89-year-old went to a local hospital in late September, and spent a few days in a bed in the emergency department, waiting for a room. At first her illness seemed mild — with none of the telltale breathing problems that used to strike so many COVID patients — but she slowly began to decline.
COVID-19 deaths on the rise again in Canada
Data shows the number of Canadians dying from COVID-19 each week is rising once again, a stark reminder that for those most at risk the pandemic continues to be a real and legitimate threat.
Victor and his sister Laura visited their mother as much as possible, often playing her favourite oldies, until the hospital stopped allowing visitors during a COVID-19 outbreak.
“Then she just took a turn for the worse,” Laura said.
In her last few days at the hospital, Josephine was put on oxygen and developed pneumonia. She didn’t want to be intubated, so she was never transferred into intensive care.
She died on Oct. 9.
“I always thought to myself that my mom had a few good years left in her,” Victor said.
“You all of a sudden realize that the disease that has captured so many lives is actually affecting your family’s life.”
People such as Josephine — who are elderly, or medically frail for other reasons — are now the classic victims of COVID-19.
And hundreds of Canada’s most vulnerable are still dying, every single week, with countrywide deaths stuck at stubbornly high levels in recent months, federal data shows.
That means Canadian families continue to lose loved ones to this virus on a regular basis, all while hospitals are still admitting seriously ill COVID-19 patients in the midst of ongoing staff shortages, surgery backlogs and a busy respiratory virus season.
“We all have sort of moved into another phase of living with the virus,” said Dr. Kali Barrett, a critical care physician with the University Health Network in Toronto.
“But for those at risk, the pandemic continues to be a real and legitimate threat.”
‘Completely different patient population’
The weekly death rate from COVID-19 in Canada has skyrocketed, then dipped, in dramatic peaks and valleys since it began spreading in early 2020.
But while weekly deaths dropped into the double digits at several points in 2020 and 2021, the tally hasn’t dipped below 137 throughout all of 2022. (The numbers are provided to the federal government by the provinces and territories, and no longer include Nunavut or the Northwest Territories.)
That shift follows provinces lifting public health restrictions, all while the Omicron family of sub-variants kept evolving to better evade our immune systems.
For nearly four months straight, weekly Canadian COVID-19 deaths have remained above 200 — and the latest available data shows there were 305 lives lost during the week of Oct. 16.
CBC News spoke to multiple physicians to get a sense of what’s behind that trend, and who’s dying of COVID-19 in late 2022. Canadians who are elderly, already battling multiple pre-existing health conditions, or undergoing immune-suppressing treatments such as chemotherapy all remain at a higher risk of dying.
Some are winding up in critical care, while others are now being treated for their illnesses and eventually dying in other settings, including other hospital wards.
Laura Moschitto shares old mementos, including a photo of her mother Josephine in her younger years, inside the living room of her home, a house in Etobicoke where her parents used to live. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
“It’s a completely different patient population than the earlier waves,” said Dr. Bram Rochwerg, a critical care physician with Hamilton Health Sciences in Hamilton, Ont.
He recounted the horror stories of COVID’s early days: Young, healthy adults becoming incredibly sick and winding up in intensive care on mechanical ventilation, or even extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), the highest form of life support.
“We’re not seeing those young, previously healthy, super-sick folks that we saw at the peak of Delta,” he said.
Dr. Gabriel Fabreau, an internal medicine physician in Calgary and an assistant professor at the University of Calgary, credits effective vaccines and treatments for that shift.
Vaccinated individuals — meaning those who completed their primary COVID-19 vaccine series and had at least one booster dose — were three times less likely to be hospitalized, and five times less likely to die from their illness, compared to unvaccinated Canadians, according to data from late August to late September 2022.
Fabreau said more recently, his seriously ill COVID-19 patients are typically medically frail, immunocompromised, or still unvaccinated.
Rochwerg, in Hamilton, agreed. “It’s older folks, it’s those with immune-compromised states on chemotherapy with advanced cancer, frail comorbidities, that are ending up getting sick with COVID-related illness,” he said.
“It’s extremely rare to see somebody that doesn’t have these comorbidities that ends up in the ICU sick with COVID.”
Canada’s hospital crunch leaves some waiting days for care
Waits for care in Canada’s emergency rooms are stretching on longer and longer. In Winnipeg, one woman says her uncle with end-stage cancer waited two days for care, while an ER physician says he’s pondered quitting over the ‘unacceptable’ situation.
Canadian COVID-19 patients with at least one comorbidity had an average hospital stay eight days longer than those without comorbidities, and a higher in-hospital death rate of 20 per cent compared to seven per cent.
The vast majority of 2022 deaths, at more than 80 per cent, were among those 65 and older, and three-quarters had three — or more — comorbidities.
But, to be clear, people juggling multiple health issues aren’t necessarily close to death.
Siblings Victor and Laura Moschitto stand on the front porch of the Toronto home where their mother Josephine used to live. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
In Toronto, the majority of patients with COVID-19 who are ending up in Barrett’s intensive care unit are already frail from cancer treatment. Many, she said, might have had years left to live before developing COVID-19.
“These were patients who may have — if they got through their chemotherapy — were going to fully recover and go back to a normal life,” she said.
Several physicians also noted other patients are admitted to hospital for different ailments but also test positive, while some catch the virus during their stays.
“There are hospital-acquired outbreaks that are continuing to happen that do account for some of those numbers that we’re seeing,” said Dr. Neeja Bakshi, an internal medicine physician at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton.
The high number of patients falling ill with this virus threatens to further strain Canadian health-care systems this winter.
“We simply cannot expand any further and we don’t have the resources to go into the season,” Bakshi warned. “And I can tell you that nobody in any level of hospital administration or clinical care is sleeping easy.”
Canada-wide, the number of hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients increased from 3,875 to more than 4,100 between Oct. 17 and 24, federal data shows.
Even if just a small percentage of COVID-19 patients are still falling seriously ill, that’s capable of adding a huge amount of stress to health-care systems, Rochwerg said.
“Our capacity to deal with critically ill patients right now has never been lower than it is at this moment in time,” he said.
Doctors brace for busy flu season with hospitals already under pressure
Doctors are bracing for flu season to peak, with hospitals already feeling the strain of COVID-19 and RSV, and wait times ballooning. Their message: wear a mask, get your flu shot and get a COVID-19 booster.
The sickest COVID-19 patients are now being cared for across hospital wards more broadly, including emergency departments and inpatient wards that are also facing pressure from other respiratory illnesses, from influenza to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
“It’s led to truly a perfect storm,” Rochwerg said.
Seniors, loved ones urged to take precautions
As the temperature dips and Canadians spend more time indoors, inadvertently spreading viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, influenza and RSV, physicians say it’s critical that vulnerable seniors and their families take precautions.
Dr. Samir Sinha, director of geriatrics for Sinai Health and the University Health Network in Toronto, recommended all Canadian seniors consider getting three different shots this fall season: An updated bivalent COVID-19 booster, annual flu shot and pneumonia vaccine if they’re eligible.
“You can actually get all three of those at the same time,” Sinha said.
Dr. Samir Sinha, director of geriatrics at Sinai Health System and the University Health Network in Toronto says the key concern in continuing care homes right now is staffing shortages (Ousama Farag/CBC)
Elderly Canadians living in long-term care facilities or retirement homes might have an easier time accessing these shots, Sinha said.
The bigger concern? Seniors living independently in communities, who may require help from family members or neighbours.
Loved ones should also consider taking extra care around any-at risk relatives, Sinha added. That could mean some combination of being vaccinated, wearing a quality mask, or taking a COVID-19 rapid test before family events this fall and winter.
“The loneliness will just kill you alone,” Sinha said. “The idea is, try to live your life, but do so safely.”
‘A bigger risk than we realize’
As the Moschitto family continues mourning the recent loss of 89-year-old Josephine, her children take comfort knowing they tried to protect her, and that her retirement home was vigilant in maintaining COVID-19 precautions.
“You can’t stop it, at some point, from infiltrating you — it’s hard to deal with,” Victor said. “But you have to at some point come to accept what happened.”
Josephine Moschitto, shown in this family photographer with her late husband, passed away on Oct. 9 from COVID-19 at the age of 89. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
Still, both siblings hoped Josephine had a few more years left to live.
A few more years filled with morning conversations about how long it took her to guess the day’s Wordle, or family dinners featuring her beloved recipe for spaghetti and meatballs, or moments spent with her three grandchildren.
“People want to return to normal, but you know, maybe there is a bigger risk than we realize with that return to normalcy,” Victor said.
BATHURST, N.B. – RCMP in New Brunswick say a weekend ground search for evidence related to the disappearance of a teenage girl in 2021 didn’t reveal any new information.
In an emailed statement, the RCMP said 20 people participated in the search for evidence in the case of Madison Roy-Boudreau of Bathurst.
The release said the search occurred in the Middle River area, just south of the girl’s hometown.
Police have said the 14-year-old’s disappearance is being treated as a homicide investigation.
The RCMP said the search “did not reveal any new information regarding the circumstances of her disappearance.”
There are no plans for another search until police receive a tip or a lead pointing to a new search area.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
VICTORIA – A middle school in Victoria was forced into a lockdown after a man entered the building without permission, and police say they had to use a stun gun to make an arrest.
Victoria police say officers received multiple calls around noon on Monday of an unknown male entering Central Middle School, leading staff to set off emergency procedures that put the building under lockdown.
Police say its emergency response team arrived within minutes and found the suspect, who “appeared to be in a drug-induced state,” in the school’s library.
A statement from police says the suspect resisted arrest, and officers had to use a Taser to subdue the man.
He’s being held by police and has been assessed by emergency medical staff.
Police say the man was not armed and there were no continuing safety concerns for students and staff following the arrest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Former B.C. Green leader Andrew Weaver knows what it’s like to form a minority government with the NDP, but says such a deal to create the province’s next administration is less likely this time than seven years ago.
Weaver struck a power-sharing agreement that resulted in John Horgan’s NDP minority government in 2017, but said in an interview Monday there is now more animosity between the two parties.
Neither the NDP nor the B.C. Conservatives secured a majority in Saturday’s election, raising the prospect of a minority NDP government if Leader David Eby can get the support of two Green legislators.
Manual recounts in two ridings could also play an important role in the outcome, which will not be known for about a week.
Weaver, who is no longer a member of the Greens, endorsed a Conservative candidate in his home riding.
He said Eby would be in a better position to negotiate if Furstenau, who lost her seat, stepped aside as party leader.
“I think Mr. Eby would be able to have fresh discussions with fresh new faces around the table, (after) four years of political sniping … between Sonia and the NDP in the B.C. legislature,” he said.
He said Furstenau’s loss put the two elected Greens in an awkward position because parties “need the leader in the legislature.”
Furstenau could resign as leader or one of the elected Greens could step down and let her run in a byelection in their riding, he said.
“They need to resolve that issue sooner rather than later,” he said.
The Green victories went to Rob Botterell in Saanich North and the Islands and Jeremy Valeriote in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky.
Neither Botterell nor Valeriote have held seats in the legislature before, Weaver noted.
“It’s not like in 2017 when, you know, I had been in the (legislature) for four years already,” Weaver said, adding that “the learning curve is steep.”
Sanjay Jeram, chair of undergraduate studies in political science at Simon Fraser University, said he doesn’t think it’ll be an “easygoing relationship between (the NDP and Greens) this time around.”
“I don’t know if Eby and Furstenau have the same relationship — or the potential to have the same relationship — as Horgan and Weaver did,” he said. “I think their demands will be a little more strict and it’ll be a little more of a cold alliance than it was in 2017 if they do form an alliance.”
Horgan and Weaver shook hands on a confidence-and-supply agreement before attending a rugby match, where they were spotted sitting together before the deal became public knowledge.
Eby said in his election-night speech that he had already reached out to Furstenau and suggested common “progressive values” between their parties.
Furstenau said in her concession speech that her party was poised to play a “pivotal role” in the legislature.
Botterell said in an election-night interview that he was “totally supportive of Sonia” and he would “do everything I can to support her and the path forward that she chooses to take because that’s her decision.”
The Green Party of Canada issued a news release Monday, congratulating the candidates on their victories, noting Valeriote’s win is the first time that a Green MLA has been elected outside of Vancouver Island.
“Now, like all British Columbians we await the final seat count to know which party will have the best chance to form government. Let’s hope that the Green caucus has a pivotal role,” the release said, echoing Furstenau’s turn of phrase.
The final results of the election won’t be known until at least next week.
Elections BC says manual recounts will be held on Oct. 26 to 28 in two ridings where NDP candidates led B.C. Conservatives by fewer than 100 votes after the initial count ended on Sunday.
The outcomes in Surrey City Centre and Juan de Fuca-Malahat could determine who forms government.
The election’s initial results have the NDP elected or leading in 46 ridings, and the B.C. Conservatives in 45, both short of the 47 majority mark in B.C.’s 93-seat legislature.
If the Conservatives win both of the recount ridings and win all other ridings where they lead, Rustad will win with a one-seat majority.
If the NDP holds onto at least one of the ridings where there are recounts, wins the other races it leads, and strikes a deal with the Greens, they would have enough numbers to form a minority government.
But another election could also be on the cards, since the winner will have to nominate a Speaker, reducing the government’s numbers in the legislature by one vote.
Elections BC says it will also be counting about 49,000 absentee and mail-in ballots from Oct. 26 to 28.
The NDP went into the election with 55 ridings, representing a comfortable majority in what was then an 87-seat legislature.
Jeram, with Simon Fraser University, said though the counts aren’t finalized, the Conservatives were the big winners in the election.
“They weren’t really a not much of a formal party until not that long ago, and to go from two per cent of the vote to winning 45 or more seats in the B.C. provincial election is just incredible,” he said in an interview Monday.
Jeram said people had expected Eby to call an election after he took over from John Horgan in 2022, and if he had, he doesn’t think there would have been the same result.
He said the B.C. Conservative’s popularity grew as a result of the decision of the BC Liberals to rebrand as BC United and later drop out.
“Had Eby called an election before that really shook out, and maybe especially before (Pierre) Poilievre, kind of really had the wind in his sails and started to grow, I think he could have won the majority for sure.”
He said he wasn’t surprised by the results of the election, saying polls were fairly accurate.
“Ultimately, it really was a result that we saw coming for a while, since the moment that BC United withdrew and put their support behind the conservatives, I think this was the outcome that was expected.”
— With files from Darryl Greer
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
