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Relatively few Canadians have contracted the novel coronavirus and fewer still have died from it. But COVID-19 is already having a tangible impact on thousands of the ill in Canada as hospitals postpone elective surgeries and transplants and clear out clinics and wards to ready for a possible wave of infected patients.

The moves — many announced in just the last few days — are designed partly to prevent sick and immune-compromised patients from being infected by COVID-19, but mostly to free up critical-care space and equipment should the pandemic suddenly spike.

The rationale is that even if a surgery is not urgent, those patients often spend time in the intensive-care unit and occupy a ward bed, resources that would be desperately needed if Canada experiences an Italy-like surge in COVID-19 cases.

“This is a big deal, we are doing a lot less,” said Vancouver cardiologist Dr. Andrew Krahn, a spokesman for the Heart andStroke Foundation and president of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society.

Photo by Dave Thomas/Postmedia/File

The cardiac care system has years of experience managing wait lists and ensuring the most urgent cases get looked after quickly, but there is always a concern with delaying treatment, especially if the coronavirus disruptions last for more than a few weeks, said Krahn.

“Of course there’s worry,” he said. “There’s no question indefinite delays will lead to people having bad things happen while they are waiting.”

With some variations from province to province, hospitals across the country are postponing all elective cardiac procedures, resulting in a reduction in bypass, stent and other operations of 50 to 75 per cent, said Krahn. The society is also recommending that clincs and diagnostic services essentially be closed, “except for very ill people.”