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Apr 1, 2020 9:58 PM -

Dr. Theresa Tam: Health system is not designed to deal with this kind of surge, could face difficult decisions about how to allocate scarce resources

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Chief Public Health Officer of Canada Dr. Theresa Tam listens to questions at a press conference on COVID-19 at West Block on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says the health care system has the potential to be overwhelmed in all of the COVID-19 scenarios projected by the federal government.

The government has not shared any of its projections related to how the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to play out in Canada.

But Tam says the health system is not designed to deal with this kind of surge, and could be facing difficult decisions about how to allocate scarce resources in all those scenarios.

She says in some of the worst case scenarios, the health care system will not be able to cope.

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