2) In less than a year, the number of Québecois on wait lists for elective surgery jumped by more than 7,100, as the chart below makes clear. This is directly as a result of délestage, the policy of postponing operations to make way for #COVID hospital beds. 
3) In fact, since the start of the #pandemic in 2020, the number of patients on wait lists for so-called non-urgent surgery in Québec has soared by nearly 36% or more than 41,000. Many of these are orthopedic patients who are waiting in excruciating pain for a joint replacement.
4) On Wednesday, Quebec reported a welcome drop of 30 #COVID19 hospitalizations, but the total was still 1,777, and nearly 3,700 health workers were absent because of COVID. That compares with 1,181 hospitalizations at the end of May.
5) It would therefore not be wildly unrealistic to expect that when the weather grows colder in the fall and more people gather indoors that the more transmissible COVID #variants will infect more people and that hospitalizations will likely go back up.
6) If that turns out to be the case, what will the impact be on hospitals? Will Québec resume some form of délestage? Will certain medical imaging tests be postponed, which occurred during past #COVID waves? What will the impact be on the mental health of burned-out nurses?
7) Each COVID wave batters Québec’s fragile health-care system, leaving it arguably weaker than before. How many more waves can the system withstand? The impact is not only being felt on surgical wait lists...
8) Snapshots of the emergency rooms situation in Québec suggests that the #pandemic is worsening ER overcrowding in the province, as has been observed across Canada recently. The chart below shows ER congestion was much less of a problem in June of 2019 than this past summer.
9) Most ominously, the impact's been the most life-threatening for Québec cancer patients. Since Jan. 30, 2021, the number of such patients waiting for surgery has jumped by 1,093 to 4,245. Worse yet, more oncology patients are waiting longer than the maximum 57 days. See below.
10) This is but a brief summary gleaned from stats made public by the Health Ministry. I'd wager the situation “sur le terrain” is worse than I’ve laid out here. As I return to work Tuesday, you have my word I'll be digging deeper into this at the Montreal Gazette. End of thread.
I deleted my 1st tweet to tonight's thread: "As widespread complacency sets in surrounding #COVID19 — with few #pandemic precautions left in place — it’s worth setting the record straight on the impact of such a laissez-faire approach on Québec’s beleaguered health-care system."
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
