Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced on Jan. 18 that a new hospital in Vaughan will be dedicated solely to treating COVID-19 patients in order to support the province’s pandemic response. The Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital, scheduled to open on Feb. 7, will be solely devoted to treating COVID-19 patients to relieve pressure on nearby hospitals due to rapid increases in hospitalizations and ICU occupancy rates. “The Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital is the first newly built hospital in three decades and this net new capacity will be critical until we are in a position to widely administer vaccines across the province,” Ford said. “I want to especially thank Mackenzie Health for stepping up to allow us to temporarily use this new facility to support our COVID-19 response and take pressure off other hospitals in the region. It’s these kinds of innovative partnerships that make a world of difference in our fight against this …