Regina health-care system under ‘significant pressure’: Livingstone

The health-care system in the Regina region is being put to the test by COVID-19.

“There is significant pressure — pressure Regina hasn’t seen through this pandemic yet — and we are testing the system to its fullest,” Saskatchewan Health Authority CEO Scott Livingstone said during a media conference.

“The other thing to remember, though, is we are also using other resources available to us.”

According to Livingstone, there are 60 people with COVID in Regina hospitals, with 16 in intensive care. Those numbers differ from those provided by the Ministry of Health in Thursday’s COVID update, which said there were 68 people in hospital in the area, with 12 in ICU.

Livingstone said there’s a trend among recent hospitalizations: Of the 35 ICU admissions in Regina in the past month, only one person has been over the age of 70, and of the last 10 ICU admissions, half have been under the age of 40.

“It is a concern,” he said of the number of younger people being hospitalized. “It’s not something that’s a big surprise, given what we’re seeing in other jurisdictions.”

Livingstone said of the 16 patients in Regina ICUs right now, 15 are infected with the United Kingdom variant. The SHA is doing what it can to address the current influx of ICU cases.

“We have opened an additional 12 ICU beds in Regina to care for that increasing demand of COVID patients coming through our door,” Livingstone said. “We’re working to remove a number of patients who no longer require specialized tertiary care to our rural hospitals where their care needs can be met.

“We continue to plan for having to expand as we don’t believe we’re at the peak of this by any stretch of the imagination,” he added.

COVID testing and vaccine clinics

Livingstone said the wait times experienced recently at the Regina drive-through testing clinic were unacceptable.

Some people waited four to five hours to get tested Wednesday night, and the long lineup forced the clinic to close its gates early. Hours at that site were expanded Thursday and are to be extended when possible to 12 hours a day.

“Next week, we’ll be up to 16 hours a day, which is a 100 per cent increase in capacity,” Livingstone said. “(We’re) looking at a project peak of around 1,900 tests a day in Regina’s drive-through alone.”

The SHA is looking at opening popup clinics across the city with point of care equipment to expand capacity as well. It’s not clear when or where that will happen.

Contact tracing efforts are also expected to ramp up, with some resources from Saskatoon and other areas of the province being moved into Regina.

Once more AstraZeneca vaccine becomes available, Livingstone says the drive-through clinic at Regina’s Evraz Place will reopen and others will be set up in Saskatoon, Yorkton and Moose Jaw.

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Lara Fominoff