Infectious disease specialist Dr.  Isaac Bogoch told CP24 on Friday morning that Ontario appears to be “on the verge of a spring wave” with sewage surveillance data showing increasingly high levels of the virus in the community.
However, during a press conference in Ottawa, Ford insisted that his government had no plans to re-impose public health measures at this time.
He also suggested that the Ontario government remain committed to lifting any remaining public health restrictions by the end of April, including the mandate for the mask to remain in place for high-risk regulations.
“Let’s talk about it (imposing restrictions), if God forbid it ever happens, at that time.  “But we are prepared,” he said.
Ford rejected proposals Friday that his government had acted too quickly to lift the restrictions, telling reporters that “everyone else across the country has taken off their masks” and that Ontario was effectively lifting its mandate after many years. other provinces.
As for the expected increase in COVID transmission, Ford cited the increased availability of Pfizer Paxlovid as one of the things that gives him confidence in the healthcare system’s ability to handle transmission growth.
He said Ontario has also made investments that will allow it to “upgrade” to 3,000 ICU beds if needed.
However, in a message posted on Twitter, the medical director of intensive care at Michael Garron Hospital, Dr.  Michael Warner disputed those allegations.
Currently, Critical Care Services Ontario reports only a “total funded ICU bed capacity” of 2,343 for adults.  About 70 percent of these beds are full.
“Those of us who really work in the ICU know that increasing up to 3,000 beds is not only impossible, but also dangerous to say the least,” Warner said.  “It provides false assurance that we have the power of the individual to handle a wave of this magnitude.” 
The modeling had warned of a smaller wave
It is difficult to determine how widespread COVID-19 is in the community, given the reduced access to government-funded PCR testing.
But positivity rates have been rising for several weeks, and some epidemiologists, including Bogoch, have suggested that hospitalizations will soon start to rise again.
Meanwhile, the model released earlier this month warned that ICU admissions due to COVID-19 could rise by a third to 300 patients by May.
This would still be a long way from the peak reached last spring, when more than 900 COVID patients were in the ICU.
“We are seeing an increase in sewage surveillance and, you know, it would not surprise anyone if days or a week or so later, we might see an increase in the number of people being admitted to hospital with COVID-19-related disease,” Bogot told CP24 on Friday.
“I think it’s fair to say that obviously the pandemic is not over.  But it is also fair to say that a ton of people, the vast majority of people five and over have been vaccinated with at least one and mostly two doses and of course there is a growing number of people with three doses.  “We can also not ignore the fact that a significant percentage of the province has unfortunately become infected and recovered from an Omicron infection in the last three months as well.”
On Friday, Health Minister Christine Eliot said that Director of Health Dr.  Kieran Moore always warned that higher levels of the virus were possible as the province reopened.
Therefore, he said that the early signs of an increase in cases “do not surprise us at all” and is something for which the province is prepared.
“With the immunity rates we have and the other antiviral drugs we have at the moment we are protected,” he said.  “Dr.  “Moore has said many times that when we opened Ontario we would see higher levels of sewage monitoring, but we are confident that we have the capacity in our hospitals to be able to care for anyone who needs a hospital bed or needs intensive care.”
There were 667 people treated for COVID-19 on Friday, six more than yesterday and 54 more than a week ago.
The number of people in the intensive care unit fell by four to 161 on Friday.