Record high ICU admissions in Sask. has doctors suggesting an update to vaccine strategy

Intensive care (ICU) COVID-19 hospitalizations in Saskatchewan are at an all-time high. As of Monday, a total of 47 COVID-19 patients are in ICU, with 31 of them in Regina. 

Variants of concern (VOCs) are spreading in Regina right now as well. VOCs are mutated strains of the virus that causes COVID-19 that tend to be more contagious and cause more serious illnesses.

The Regina zone accounts for 803 — or 84 per cent — of the VOC cases with confirmed lineage reported in Saskatchewan.

"The situation in Regina is certainly out of control," said Dr. Hassan Masri, an intensive care specialist in Saskatoon.

"Unfortunately, we did allow those numbers to rise here in Saskatchewan and specifically in Regina and so now we have ICUs that are really full in Regina and potentially patients will have to be diverted to Saskatoon."

Masri said that has not happened yet, but it is a possibility. 

Dr. Kevin Wasko, lead physician with the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), said Regina's ICUs are at surge capacity and currently have more COVID-19 patients than those with any other illness.

He also confirmed that some people in Regina who need an ICU bed could be sent to another city if COVID-19 ICU admissions continue to rise.

People in the health care system familiar with the situation have told CBC that the breakdown of hospitalizations in Regina as of Monday is as follows:

• Pasqua Hospital ICU: seven total beds, three positive COVID-19 patients, one recovered COVID patient.
• Pasqua medical surveillance unit (MSU): five overflow ICU patients, zero positive COVID patients.
• General Hospital medical ICU: ten total beds, ten positive COVID patients, one recovered COVID patient.
• General surgical ICU: 12 total beds, 11 positive COVID patients.
• Cardiology Care Unit at the General: 5 overflow positive COVID patients.

Wasko said ICUs in other cities like Moose Jaw and Swift Current have also added additional beds because they have "surged beyond their capacities."

"This is real. This is filling up — literally filling up — the ICUs right now," he said.

If ICUs reach a "breaking point," Wasko said some people who need ICU care won't be able to get it, although SHA can implement field hospitals if need be.

"It's really hard for the public sometimes to understand the gravity of the situation unless you actually stepped foot in one of these overcapacity ICUs," he said.

"If you're not really seeing it and facing it, I think it's sometimes hard to really appreciate how real it is."

Wasko said it's hard to predict when an ICU could reach a breaking point, but with more VOCs being reported around the province, "if we continue on the trajectory that we're on, it is a matter of time."

Recovered patients are marked as such only after they are no longer contagious, but they may still require hospital or ICU care.

LISTEN | Dr. Kevin Wasko was on CBC Saskatchewan's Morning Edition Tuesday

Younger people filling ICUs

"The other important story in all of this is the age group that are filling the ICUs," Masri said. 

"We are seeing a lot of patients in their 20s, 30s and 40s ... the variant, which is really rapidly spreading in Saskatchewan, seems to affect younger people much more profoundly than the original COVID virus."

Masri said to see young people fighting for their lives in the ICU is "very disturbing and extremely unusual."

Wasko said one of the reasons younger people are being more affected is because most elderly people in Saskatchewan have been vaccinated, which means younger people are now more vulnerable to COVID-19 and VOCs.

In light of this, Masri suggested the vaccine strategy be tweaked slightly to include essential workers sooner. 

"You know, there are people going to work every day at grocery stores or truck drivers or even people in health care who are being asked to go to work everyday and put themselves at a really high risk, but yet they may not be vaccinated for two months or three months or four months from now," he said. 

Wasko echoed Masri's sentiment, saying the provincial government should consider adjusting its vaccination plan to prioritize essential and front-line workers.

As for restrictions in the province, Masri said the government should revisit the opening of bubbles and the loosening of those types of restrictions. He also said rapid testing has been underutilized in the province and country. 

Masri emphasized that this is not just a Regina problem, and that the entire province should be preparing. 

Wasko, meanwhile, acknowledged that many people are tired of COVID-19 and restrictions that come with it, but said it's more important than ever to follow the protocols and get vaccinated as soon as possible.

"We do have a lot of hope with a vaccine coming, but it will take a few months until we really can get those first doses into everybody's arms and start to make an impact," he said.