Hamilton’s chief of paramedics says the number of ambulance calls, year over year, are down in the city amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Michael Sanderson says he’s not surprised by the decline in calls during Ontario’s Emergency Measures and Civil Protection Act, but that the number is nine per cent year over year between the beginning of March and the end of April. “So I kind of expected that we would have a decrease in transports to hospital, but it’s actually really proved out.
I’m surprised at the quantum of it right now.” Sanderson told Global News. Paramedics are not only seeing a decrease in overall calls but also a decline in potential patients taking rides to the hospital.