Ottawa parent describes stressful time with COVID, RSV

It’s been a stressful time for father of two, Furqan Mahmood.

“Our household had COVID a month ago,” he said.

First COVID-19, now RSV hitting his household of four, which includes two young kids.

“It becomes more depressing and you feel anxiety because you’re not getting this medicine,” said Mahmood.

His 11-month-old baby and five-year-old are still recovering from being sick. Mahmood says he spent hours scouring Ottawa pharmacies for fever reducing medication, while trying to avoid going to the emergency room at CHEO.

“The wait time at CHEO that I have experienced with my daughter, who is a few months old and my son, the wait time was approximately 14 hours,” he said.

Paediatric hospitals across Ontario are dealing with an unprecedented surge of sick children, including CHEO, which opened a second paediatric ICU to keep up with the demand.

Meanwhile, Ontario Health is directing general hospitals to accept children 14 and older, while health officials and the premier are urging people to wear a mask.

“We need to mask,” said Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, Medical officer of Health and CEO of Eastern Ontario Health Unit. “I strongly recommend masking in all indoor settings and this for the benefit of preventing transmission, to the vulnerable in addition to vaccinations for COVID and for flu.”

Mahmood is also hoping more people choose to mask up to prevent the further spread of illness in Ottawa.