The situation continues to worsen in Quebec's emergency rooms, as the province is hit hard by a seventh wave of COVID-19.

• Read also: 36-hour strike at Urgences Santé

• Read also: Misinformation on COVID-19: how to avoid falling into a witch hunt?

• Read also: Misinformation on COVID-19: a dozen chiropractors in hot water

The occupancy rate in hospitals is currently exploding in several regions of Quebec.

More than 7,000 workers are absent from the health network for several reasons: isolation due to COVID-19, labor shortage, summer vacation.

With the traffic, the care staff is also out of breath.

“In the emergency room of the Cité-de-la-Santé, there have been 11 resignations since January 1, there are compulsory overtime hours on average nine shifts per day for the last 45 days. This is unacceptable. There is distress. With the shortage, the CISSS de Laval cannot afford to lose workers. This is why I am calling on Mr. Cotton to make an intervention,” said Dereck Cyr, president of SIIIAL-CSQ.

Jean-Philippe Cotton is the new President and CEO of the CISSS de Laval.

“The pandemic has meant that people have consulted less, they have waited, so that is sure to bring great pressure. Of course, we try to ask the population to go to their family doctor or to clinics, instead of going to the emergency room. We are working extremely hard to find solutions, ”said Sébastien Rocheleau, deputy director of the nursing department of the CISSS de Laval, who wanted to be reassuring.

The office of the Minister of Health and Social Services also reacted on Saturday.

“There are still thousands of absences in the network due in particular to COVID. We have taken the lead in informing the population and preparing the network. (...) We are in a period of transition in the health network. With the changes that we are proposing, we will make the network much more solid and efficient in the years to come, ”we can read.