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Recently, there have been several statements concerning how well prepared we are in Ontario for the novel coronavirus. A statement from Christine Elliott, deputy premier and minister of Health, notes that “efforts by our dedicated public health professionals are keeping [us] safe.”

While there is no doubt we are much more prepared for this novel coronavirus than we were for SARS, there is a critical weakness in our health care system that is not being addressed. The reality is that if we start seeing more cases of coronavirus in Ontario, it is likely that our health care system will fail.

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This critical weakness is our hospital overcrowding.

I am a front-line emergency room physician working in Perth, and in no way are we prepared for a surge in sick patients. Two weeks ago, our hospital was so overcrowded that eight out of the 10 beds in our emergency department were taken up by patients admitted to hospital who could not be admitted to the ward because there were no beds. We had two total beds available to treat our patients, of whom there are usually 70 or 80 per day. We were treating people in hallways, in closets and in unused offices. If several sick patients with a highly contagious illness came to our department, there would be absolutely nowhere to put them.