The impact of the unvaccinated: like falling dominoes
How can ICU shortages and full hospitals across the province affect you if you don’t need hospital or ICU care?
Simple – it’s like falling dominoes.
Health-care resources are finite. We only have so many doctors, so many nurses, so many pieces of specialized equipment. When certain care is under demand – such as ICU or inpatient care for COVID-19 positive patients during this fourth wave – the system must adjust to provide that in-demand care. A domino falls and hits another.
Pressures on acute care have a system-wide impact.
For example, say there is an increase in COVID-positive patients coming into a rural hospital, so an extra physician is assigned daily to the hospital to support the increase in hospital admissions and acutely ill patients presenting to emergency. This means appointments at the local clinic have to be re-assigned to other providers, in-person consults change to phone visits, and non-urgent appointments are postponed.
To allow this adjustment, resources have to come from somewhere. Domino hits domino hits domino.
We all need to do our part and share the responsibility to help our health system. The current pandemic of the unvaccinated is currently creating unprecedented pressures on acute care and starting to tip over more and more dominoes. Service reductions are being put in place across the healthcare system to support the capacity required to care for people in ICUs today.
Get your vaccine. Wash your hands. Wear a mask in public spaces. Physically distance from others. Limit the number of contacts you have.
Stop more dominoes from falling.
