Fast Facts: Ottawa Public Health reported seven additional deaths linked to COVID-19 on Sunday. An Ottawa doctor says family physicians are being left out of Ontario s COVID-19 vaccine rollout. A local pediatrician is calling the extended closures of schools a mental health, physical health, and academic crisis. Ottawa families spent Sunday morning booking vaccine appointments for their children as the province expanded eligibility to anyone 12 and older.
COVID-19 by the numbers in Ottawa (Ottawa Public Health data):
New COVID-19 cases: 97 cases on Sunday
Total COVID-19 cases: 26,600
COVID-19 cases per 100,000 (previous seven days): 52.9
Positivity rate in Ottawa: 5.5 per cent (May 14 to May 20)
OTTAWA An Ottawa pediatrician is urging the Ontario government to reopen schools to in-person learning across the province, calling the situation “a mental health, physical health and academic crisis.” Dr. Jane Liddle said with schools closed for Ontario’s two millions students since mid-April, problems facing youth have been escalating. “We’ve had a 200 per cent increase in mental health crisis, be it suicide attempts, eating disorders, substance abuse, I mean these all have physical impacts [as well],” Liddle told Newstalk 580 CFRA on Sunday. “We need kids back to school yesterday,” she said. “We’ve seen a significant increase in obesity, increased health issues related to that. We also are seeing the opposite, linked to the mental health crisis, a severe escalation in eating disorders.”
Pediatricians sound alarm over mental health crisis in youth cbc.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cbc.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Since January, seven of Dr. Jane Liddle’s young patients have been admitted to CHEO in the throes of severe mental health crises that left them suicidal and suffering from major depression as well as extreme anxiety.
The teens were hospitalized for their own, and others’, safety and stabilized. In a matter of weeks, they were back home, more stable, but still getting ongoing treatment for serious mental disorders.
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