Mayor of Toronto: It's wartime! The hotel room is ready to pick up the patient

According to data updated on the official website of the Province of Ontario, Ontario on Monday there were 351 new cases of COVID-19, 10 new deaths, and the cumulative number of COVID-19 patients in the province rose to 1,706.

According to CP24, Toronto Mayor Chuang Saidley said Tuesday that the city has developed plans to use Toronto hotel rooms to treat people who may be infected with COVID-19 but do not in principle need to be hospitalized.

To date, less than 10 percent of Ontario's 1,706 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 require hospitalization, but there is growing concern about the ability of the healthcare system to treat severe cases. As seen in New York City, not only have there been an explosion in cases of infection with the virus, but more than 1,200 people have died and local hospitals are overcrowded.

In an interview with CP24 at home on Tuesday morning, Mr. Chuang said the city government intends to use the city's hotel rooms to receive infected people whose condition is generally less severe and does not require much medical facilities if necessary.

Johnson said city officials are investigating some of the city's public buildings to see if some of them can be converted into temporary medical facilities. So in addition to taking advantage of the hotel, this is also part of Toronto's contingency plan.

"It should be emphasized that these temporary facilities are for emergency response and are not for critically ill patients," Chuang said. What we are currently looking at is considering people who may be infected with the virus and need isolation and a certain level of treatment. Obviously, the level of these ad hoc implementations is much lower than that of hospitals. ”

John Saidley mentioned that Toronto has always paid attention to the situation in the United States, especially New York, and hopes that New York's approach can give Toronto some reference. New York City, for example, decided on Monday to build a temporary 1,000-bed hospital at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, for example.

That's a big inspiration for us, John said, that we could do the same if there is a sharp increase in cases in Toronto, or that we could convert the Metro Toronto Convention Centre into a temporary hospital.

"None of the above plans are ideal arrangements in peacetime, but I would like to stress that it is wartime and therefore Toronto must make some arrangements," Chuang said. We are developing these plans so that they can be implemented as soon as possible if necessary. ”