More than 400 staff members at one Quebec hospital tested positive for COVID-19, with around 400 others in isolation for 鈥渃hallenges related to COVID-19,鈥 said Martin Beaumont, CEO of CHU de Quebec-Universite Laval.
鈥淭his number you can imagine is [putting] pressure to our services,鈥 he told 麻豆影视 Channel on Monday. Beaumont said 443 staff are infected with the virus.
Medical appointments and operating room activities will be nearly cut in half starting on Wednesday. He that as many as 鈥10,000 appointments could be rescheduled or converted to telehealth.鈥
He said the hospital chain provides services to approximately two million patients in east Quebec.
Beaumont lamented that choosing which surgeries and appointments will be cancelled or postponed are 鈥減robably the toughest decisions we have to make.鈥
He explained that physicians would be helping to assess each of these situations on a case-by-case basis. In the meantime, he said services for pediatrics and oncology patients, as well as emergency and semi-urgent services, will maintained to the best of their ability.
Beaumont added he鈥檚 proud of his staff for continuing to help patients under such tremendous pressure and staff shortages. He previously said that he鈥檚 urging people to 鈥渉elp us with patience and understanding,鈥 especially given that services will likely be slower than usual.
There are more than 103,000 known active COVID-19 cases in the province of Quebec, with nearly 1,400 patients in hospitals.
For the full interview, see the video above.
