Saying the effects of COVID-19 on the health care system have been long-lasting, officials with the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance pushed back against the idea the disease is just like the flu.
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Saying the effects of COVID-19 on the health-care system have been long-lasting, officials with Chatham-Kent’s hospital group pushed back against the idea the disease is just like the flu.
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“I would say there is no comparison,” Chatham-Kent Health Alliance president Lori Marshall said Monday. “The impact of COVID has been significant and sustained, and has changed the face of health care and of health-care workers forever.”
Marshall said the number of deaths they’ve seen just since the beginning of January has been “significant” and is “something that we find very difficult.”
Chatham-Kent public health reported 20 deaths among its residents from COVID-19 in January. The health alliance also sees some coronavirus patients who don’t live in Chatham-Kent and reported one non-resident died in hospital Sunday.
Alan Wildeman, the health alliance’s board president, noted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. has found influenza caused 1.8 deaths per 100,000 people between 1999 and 2019. COVID-19 is claiming about 215 lives per 100,000 people, he said.
“People who keep on saying it (COVID-19) is no worse than the flu, they’re simply wrong,” Wildeman said.
Marshall said COVID-19’s impact on the morale of health-care workers throughout the last two years “has been very difficult and it is something that is going to take a long time for us to recover from.”
“The effects on staff are orders of magnitude greater than what typically has been experienced with the flu and things like that,” Wildeman added. “This is having a long-lasting effect on people working in the health-care system.”
Marshall said health care is one of the industries expected to experience an exodus of some of its workforce after the pandemic.
“I believe we will see that,” she said. “I also remain hopeful for the future that health care remains something that is an aspiration of our youths and we will see a renewal of individuals who are very interested in pursuing health care careers.”
'No comparison' between flu and COVID, Chatham-Kent hospital officials say - Chatham Daily News
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