Some Canadian Hospitals Could Face Severe Shortage of ICU Beds in Coming Months, Projections Warn

A B.C. Ambulance Service employee wearing protective gear moves a patient from an ambulance to the emergency department at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster on April 12, 2020. The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck

If the number of COVID-19 patients surges in the next few month as expected, some hospitals could face a severe shortage of intensive care unit beds, according to projections by a team of researchers.

The model developed by the team, which consists of health professionals from the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health, the Harvard Global Health Institute, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, anticipates that hospitals in many regions would need to increase their ICU bed capacity to meet the demand.