Emergency physicians in Canada’s FIFA World Cup host cities are warning that the country’s already strained health-care system may struggle to cope with a sudden surge in emergency room demand during the tournament this summer.
In an editorial published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, Toronto emergency physician Catherine Varner said vulnerabilities in hospital capacity must be addressed before more than 300,000 fans arrive in Toronto and Vancouver in June. While both cities have experience hosting major events and public health officials are monitoring risks such as measles, food-borne illness and COVID-19, Varner said the greatest danger lies in unexpected emergencies.
Varner pointed to past experiences during major sporting events, when emergency departments saw spikes in trauma and substance-related cases while hospitals were already operating at or above full capacity. She warned that a major incident requiring large numbers of hospital or ICU beds could quickly overwhelm the system.
Toronto emergency physician Raghu Venugopal echoed those concerns, saying hospitals lack the beds and operating room capacity needed to respond to a large-scale incident, even on an ordinary day. He questioned how the system could cope during a global event drawing massive crowds.
In Vancouver, infectious disease specialist Brian Conway said measles is his top concern, noting a post-Olympics outbreak in 2010 and declining vaccination rates since then. He warned that managing exposure among international visitors could prove difficult, particularly if fans are asked to isolate during their stay.
Public Health Ontario recently released a risk assessment ranking measles, food-borne illness and COVID-19 as moderate threats during the World Cup. The agency recommended enhanced surveillance, advance planning for surge capacity, and reassessing risks closer to the tournament.
Varner said hospitals should begin coordinating now, as they did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure critical care resources can be shared if needed. “Planning early,” she said, “is the only way to avoid scrambling in the middle of a crisis when resources are already stretched thin.”