Fredericton — The provincial government, which recently cancelled hundreds of elective surgeries and important procedures for patients, is sending out dire warnings that if the current spike of COVID-19 cases is not flattened, doctors will be in a difficult position of having to decide who receives care and who doesn’t.
“With limited capacity in our healthcare system, our doctors and nurses will be in the unenviable position of having to decide how to ration care,” warned Health Minister Dorothy Shephard, who recently announced the cancellation of cancer screenings, hip replacements and stem cell therapies. “If Omicron continues its spread, we won’t be able to provide care for New Brunswickers when they need it — which is why we have no choice but to cancel all this care that New Brunswickers need now.”
The government is urging more residents to get vaccinated, reassuring that those who have had two shots and a booster that they are far less likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 and, statistically, also less likely to receive any form of healthcare for anything else as all resources will soon be devoted solely to caring for anti-vaxxer Baby Boomers in their 70s and 80s.
“I just got my booster shot last week and I’m doing my part by staying home and working full-time and also helping to teach my kids at home, instead of going for that mammogram I’ve been waiting for that would potentially catch breast cancer early like it did for my mother and grandmother,” says Elizabeth Morrison, 39, of Oromocto. “Instead, I’ll just deal with that in three years when the pandemic is over, and then wait another five years after that for doctors to catch up on the screening backlog!”
The sentiment is shared among younger populations as well.
“We all need to do our part to get through this,” said Jacob Melanson, 26, of Moncton. “For example, I’m doing my part by constantly making sacrifices in my personal life, my family, my career, and my physical and mental health, so that Baby Boomers can continue to get what they want at an enormous cost to literally everyone else.”
“I’ve been waiting a year and a half for knee surgery after a very bad car accident,” adds Tanya Deprès, 28, of Bathurst. “I’ve been fully vaccinated for awhile now, but it’s all worth it to know that my 80-year-old anti-vaxxer aunt Gertrude now has the entire healthcare system to herself and will be at the front of the line to receive care if she so much as sneezes, and will be back to posting racist rants on Facebook in no time!”
When asked if the provincial government would be taking similar measures to protect people against a mysterious neurological illness that has been spreading quickly through young adults in the province, Public Health declined to comment on that, specifically reiterating instead that, in the fight against COVID-19, “we are all in this together.”