(Montreal Gazette) — Pre-Christmas flu and gastro outbreaks combined on Monday to push emergency room capacities in Montreal, the Montérégie and the Laurentians well into the red.
By Monday evening, Montreal Island ERs recorded an overall occupancy rate of 105 per cent, according to the Index Santé website.
The Jewish General Hospital (185 per cent) and St. Mary’s Hospital (105 per cent) continued to show signs of spikes in admission into the evening.
After being over capacity for most of the day, by 7 p.m. the Lakeshore General Hospital reported 31 patients in its 31-bed emergency room for an occupancy rate of 100 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM), at 84 per cent capacity, is urging people to avoid its ER because of a ruptured pipe. (…)