With the COVID-19 fourth-wave threatening to break down the emergency room door, Cornwall Community Hospital is braced for a potential post-Thanksgiving uptick in admissions that could snap a strained health care system.
The hospital went into the Thanksgiving long weekend with 18 COVID-19 patients, five of them in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). There are eight hospital staffers at home with COVID-19.
How bad are the Cornwall hospital admission numbers?
On the weekend, Ottawa hospitals reported a total of four COVID-19 patients.
Cornwall’s lone hospital had 14 more COVID-19 patients than the three main Ottawa hospitals, which serve a population of 1 million-plus, combined.
The number of active COVID-19 cases in Cornwall at the start of the weekend was 76, which accounted for half the total number of cases in the EOHU area which takes in SD and G along with Prescott-Russell.
Back on Sept. 7, CCH had just two COVID-19 patients. The number of active cases in the city on Sept. 7 was 12. We were talking about turning the corner. Unfortunately, we’ve turned the wrong corner.
According to Eastern Ontario Health Unit statistics, Cornwall’s positive test rates are five times higher than the provincial average. That is a major concern.
Some parts of the city have a vaccination rate – 69% – far below the provincial – 82% – and EOHU – 84% – averages.
Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, EOHU medical officer of health, said that with the low vaccination rate in Cornwall it is no coincidence that the fourth wave is threating to swamp the hospital. He doesn’t hesitate to draw a direct line between unvaccinated persons and the spike in cases serious enough to require hospital care.
The vast majority of the 76 active cases in Cornwall going into the weekend involved persons who had not been fully vaccinated.
Science and the medical professional are on the same page when it comes to touting vaccinations as the best tool in the box when it comes to fighting the pandemic.
And when it comes to claims that the vaccine is not safe to take, I’m more concerned with what is in my hot dog.
HERE AND THERE Back in the mid-1950s the door to Cornwall Golf and Country Club was closed to Cornwall and area French-Canadiens. Among the first French-Canadiens to be allowed to join were Roland “Joe” Mercier, Jock Dalbec and former Standard-Freeholder photographer Marcel Quenneville, all better than average golfers. And they weren’t exactly welcomed with open hands. Quenneville told how the club pro always claimed to be too busy to give him a couple of lessons. … Some folks have another name for a water efficient toilet: a double-flusher.
THIS AND THAT One of the most vocal critics of masking and COVID-19 vaccines in Texas has died, as they say in Texas, with his boots on. Well, not quit. The 30-year-old father of three and pregnant wife died while hooked up to a ventilator. He headed up an anti-vax group called Freedom Fighters. He contracted the virus three months ago and was admitted to hospital after trying to cure himself with a drug used to de-worm horses. His family said they are re-thinking the decision to to be vaccinated.
THIS MONTH IN 1938 – Cornwall Township was one of four Ontario municipalities being investigated by the Ontario department of welfare after allegations of widespread malnutrition among welfare recipients in the four jurisdictions. Also being investigated was that some welfare recipients were being exploited by employers. … Township police were treating the death of a local man found hanging in the Dingwall bush a mile north of the city limit (Ninth Street) as homicide. The body, found high up in a tree by a partridge hunter, had been in the tree for at least four months. The man had been reported missing in early May. … Lorne A. Meldrum, certified embalmer, joined the Bert Jardine funeral home at 45 Second St. W. … A Mille Roches man, Percy J. Johnston, was awarded $1,000 by a supreme court jury for injuries he received when a horse pulling a Canada Bread delivery wagon bolted and upset the Johnston carriage, throwing the driver to the ground. … The new hall at St. Paul’s Church at First and Sydney streets was opened. It included a small gym and Sunday School rooms. … A man armed with a revolver held up the W. C. Burns Drug Store on Pitt Street. He made off with $40 from the cash register. A suspect was arrested a few days later. … A man who attempted to steal 25 cents from a Salvation Army worker’s collection plate outside the Capitol Theatre was hit with a two-month jail sentence. In addition to the attempted theft charge, he was convicted of assaulting the theatre doorman who came to the female Army volunteer’s assistance. In sentencing the man, Magistrate P. C. Bergeron said since the man showed no respect for a worthy institution (Salvation Army), the court was showing no respect for the accused. In the day, the Salvation Army made Saturday night collections at public places, including bars and taverns.
SPORTS STUFF Neat Eddie Shack story told on TSN radio (Montreal) the other day. Shack had limited reading and writing skills. One night in Boston the Bruins bench spent the first two periods chirping at Shack along the lines of “Hey Shack, how do you spell (this and that)?” Shack scored late in the third period to give the Leafs a one-goal lead. He skated past the Boston bench and yelled out, “G-O-A-L.” … New York Yankees’ pitcher Jameson Taillon has a strong tie to St. Andrew’s West. His father, Michael, was born and raised in the village. His mother is from Montreal. The veteran pitcher was born in Florida but claims dual citizenship. The 6-foot-5 Taillon was taken second overall by Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2010 draft. The Pirates gave the 18-year-old a $6.5 million signing bonus, second highest given to a MLB draft pick. He still has family in the St. Andrew’s area. Few years back, when the Jays were playing the Pirates in a pre-season game in Montreal, Jays’ TV play-by-play announcer Buck Martinez pointed out that Taillon was from a little town called St. Andrew’s West, not far from Cornwall.
TRIVIA What was the most watched TV show in 1955? 1) Maverick, 2) Rawhide, 3) The $64,000 Question, 4) I Love Lucy, 5) The Honeymooners.
TRIVIA ANSWER The name of the Army post in “F” TROOP was Fort Courage.
QUOTED – “A consultant is someone who saves his client almost enough money to pay his fee.” – Arnold Glasow
