The increasing number of new crown cases in Ontario is forcing some area hospitals to plan extreme measures, Narcity reports.
Following the London health Sciences Centre in London, Ontario, which had to use mobile freezers to temporarily store bodies because the morgue was full, Windsor Regional Hospital is considering using a local community hockey arena as a last resort to temporarily store bodies.
However, it is not yet to the point of using the hockey arena.
“The local plan to fight the epidemic includes using a local arena if needed,” said Steve Erwin, head of Windsor Hospital.
“Hopefully, we won’t have to use it. As with other areas, we will continue to monitor the local figures for confirmed new crowns so that decisions can be made accordingly.”
The hospital, which reportedly has 36 spots left in its current mortuary, will initiate a backup plan once it is full.
Hospital president David Musyj said the hospital must plan for the worst, while praying for the best and preparing for any scenario.
Windsor Hospital is the second hospital in Ontario to be forced to temporarily store bodies. Last weekend, all 28 beds in the forensic pathology department at London Hospital in Ontario were filled, forcing the hospital to bring in a cargo trailer with refrigeration equipment from outside to store the bodies until the backlog of patient remains can be disposed of. The hospital said it is working on ways to try to resolve the problem within the next few days.
The Ontario government reported an additional 3,519 confirmed cases on Jan. 7, breaking another single-day record. There were 89 new deaths, surpassing the previous record of 86 at the peak of the first wave of the outbreak on April 30.
Currently, new cases in Ontario are concentrated in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton areas, with significant increases in Windsor, Waterloo, Ottawa and London.
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