N.S. emergency rooms overwhelmed as more patients turn up ill

If you’re sick, you’re probably not alone. Influenza, RSV, and COVID are affecting many Maritimers.

Neptune Theatre’s production of Cinderella in Halifax was cancelled on Thursday for the second straight day because of illness among the cast.

“I would say this year we’re seeing a perfect storm of all of those things happening at once,” said Dr. Margaret Fraser, a Cape Breton physician.

The wait to see a physician at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital Emergency Department is between 12 and 24 hours.

Fraser says with higher than normal patient volumes, it’s hard to find space for everyone.

“It unfortunately means we’re tying up a lot of our EHS resources in the back hallways because we can’t offload patients and get them to rooms. We have a higher than normal amount of admitted patients being boarded in the ER as well. All of it is leading to a huge strain on the emergency department here,” she said.

Health professionals across the province are encouraging everyone to take the necessary precautions to protect themselves from getting severely sick.

“If you’re offered a free vaccine, you should get it. As far as preventing hospitalization and death, we know that’s what the COVID shot does and for the flu we’re really trying to keep people out of hospital beds,” said Graham MacKenzie, a pharmacist in Baddeck, N.S.

According to Nova Scotia Health, 31 per cent of the general population has received the flu shot, with the highest amount in 65-plus age group.

The overall COVID-19 vaccine rate in the province is at 21 percent.

“It's kind of like a call to action again. We're not going to have restrictive measures, but we need to do a better job collectively as Nova Scotians of taking actions we can take to protect each other and minimize the spread of these viruses,” said Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s Chief Medical Officer of Health.

For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.