Protecting everyone at CHEO; limiting COVID’s continuing impacts

The weather’s improving. So are case counts and the wastewater signal for COVID-19. Today, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health issued a statement stating that mask mandates for hospitals will end on Saturday.

But as many people in the community shed layers of COVID-19 protection, CHEO needs to continue with all the layers of protection we have, including entrance screening and masking for everyone.

Importantly, CHEO still has a significant percentage of sick and vulnerable children in our care who are not eligible for vaccination against COVID-19.

But there are other reasons we need to do everything we can to protect people in our walls from the spread of disease.

We are maintaining our status quo because it’s prudent. And, frankly, we have no other responsible choice.

CHEO is as busy as it’s ever been.

In fact, last month was the busiest May in the history of our Emergency Department (ED) — and our second busiest month ever. We are seeing more kids who are sicker than usual for this time of year. There is a lot of viral infection in the community (not just COVID-19) and we are also seeing the wave of injuries and accidents that come with the warmer weather.

Added to this, staffing continues to be a daily challenge across the organization as staff, medical staff, learners and volunteers are restricted from entering CHEO for COVID-related reasons, as well as illnesses from the other viruses circulating in the community.

Kids have taken the brunt of this pandemic. Our staff and medical staff have stepped up to buffer the impacts where they can, and in maintaining the status quo on screening and masking, we’re doing so again.

CHEO is joined by all the Ottawa hospitals in maintaining our masking requirement.

We believe this is the right call. And Ottawa Public Health continues to strongly recommend people wear masks in crowded indoor public spaces.

We will continue to advocate for kids’ safety. And we continue to call on Health Canada to consider approving vaccines for all kids, including those under five.

We want to thank everyone for their patience as we continue to tackle the many challenges that have come with COVID-19.

For parents considering coming to CHEO’s Emergency Department, we have a number of useful resources, including real-time Emergency wait times and help deciding if their child or youth needs emergency care.

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