Described by nurses and hospital staff as a pitiful situation. While positive COVID cases do not overwhelm the healthcare system as they did at the beginning of the pandemic, the virus is now affecting the healthcare system in Ottawa and across Ontario in a different way.

Christie Kwan, an Ottawa nurse, said: "The situation won’t improve anytime soon, it will get worse, and I think things will really get worse quickly."

Her blunt words come as she suffers from front-line shortages. Kwan says hospital staff are worn out and working beyond their capacity.

She said: "Morale is very low, nurses are tired, exhausted, and almost everyone is taking some kind of medication for anxiety or depression."

The problem – described by some as a secondary effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. While hospitals are no longer crowded with COVID-infected patients, the effects of the virus are still felt.

Dr. Kwado Kirimaning, an emergency care physician at Ottawa Hospital, said: "It’s not COVID disease every time because it’s not present in the hospital, but rather the secondary effects."

He added: "We are witnessing emergency department closures, reductions in intensive care units, and struggling to cover shifts."

This comes as another wave of COVID in the province has peaked according to many experts, but they also say this phase of the pandemic is not over yet.