Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to all the officials for coming in, and your time, your effort.
If I could address two issues, one is surge capacity. We've been hearing that there is little or no surge capacity in the system, and I'm wondering what your modelling shows. We've heard 1% severe illness, we've heard one to 50, we've heard one in 1,000.
Even if it's one in 1,000, that's going to translate to 1,500 to 2,500 cases of severe illness needing ICU across the country potentially simultaneously, and perhaps 3,000 beds. I'm wondering what happens if the number is greater. Is there a national surge capacity plan? Is there a mechanism to move resources from places?
It's so encouraging to hear of the work that has been done in first nations and aboriginal communities. Last day we learned that Manitobans bore the brunt of the lessons learned in the spring, and that was both in the aboriginal community and the non-aboriginal community.
We know patient outcomes depend on how quickly you're treated. We heard that there was a real lag of perhaps seven to eight days. I am concerned going forward. How do we assure that there is not that lag?
One way is the prevention side of this, to make sure people get vaccinated. What is the rate of vaccination and what tends to be the pickup in aboriginal communities? I'm really concerned about social distancing measures when you have several families living in a dwelling. Do we need more money or resources?
Can I ask one more? I can just put it on the table.