Toronto calls in the superheroes to help with vaccinating young children against COVID-19
by Kevin Dornan
We’ve been hearing from Toronto police about how tough the task of getting young children to the doctor is.
One of the reasons: there aren’t enough of the people in charge.
The police have noticed a sudden increase in children’s hospital visits for infectious diseases, and they’re wondering if it has to do with coronavirus.
Health care workers report that the increased numbers are mostly from those who have underlying health conditions.
The number of emergency calls for children’s hospitals and physicians from the Toronto Region (TR) for infectious diseases is at an average of 5.3 per day.
In the past month, there have been at least 30 calls per day for children’s hospitals. This includes the emergency call for a child who has a viral infection like the common cold, and the ones for children who have an underlying illness like asthma.
Some are from Toronto area children’s hospitals.
A spokesperson at Sick Kids says the number of emergency calls to their children’s hospital is down from June, and that the rate of increase in children who are in the hospital has slowed. But they are concerned about the new numbers.
“The number of children with calls to the children’s hospital has been increasing, for whatever reason. It’s hard to determine why but it may be a direct result of [coronavirus] exposure,” said a spokesperson at Sick Kids.
Children’s Hospital at the University of Toronto (CHU) has been sending many of its children for urgent care to children’s hospitals across the region because they are overwhelmed with demand.
The hospital says it is aware of the sudden increase in calls, but are trying to make sure they do not overwhelm the emergency departments.
“We are also seeing an increased volume of patients with a wide variety of symptoms: cough, fever, congestion, runny nose, wheezing, coughing. Also, children with an underlying medical condition may not seek immediate medical attention,” they said in a statement.
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