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Doug Manuel says people should increase their levels of protection to keep vulnerable ones safe
Doug Manuel, senior scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and professor at the University of Ottawa School of Epidemiology and Public Health. Photo by Tony Caldwell / Postmedia
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Ottawa epidemiologist Dr. Doug Manuel warns people to prepare for this summer’s interruptions as they take over the BA.5 Omicron wave.
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“We’re on a wave and it has the potential to disrupt your summer plans.”
He advised people to increase their levels of protection and to protect vulnerable people by wearing masks, distancing themselves, avoiding places where this is not possible and making sure their vaccines are up to date.
However, Manuel, a senior scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and a member of the Ontario Scientific Advisory Board, said it is likely that people’s plans will be disrupted due to the rapid spread of the subvariant that has roared through Europe and other parts of the world. world in recent weeks. The unusual summer COVID-19 wave also has the potential to be disruptive to society, he said.
It already is, in fact.
The closure of the Perth emergency department this week, while a symptom of much deeper systemic problems with the health care system, was caused by the number of nurses discharged from COVID-19. The initial shutdown had to be lengthened after the virus continued to spread among staff. COVID-19 cases among health care workers are on the rise in Ottawa and elsewhere.
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COVID-19: Six killed in Ottawa last week
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The closure of Perth Hospital’s emergency department has expanded as staffing COVID-19 outbreaks grow
Most hospitals in the province are struggling during the summer with a critical shortage of staff. The loss of personnel due to COVID-19 infections will be a severe blow.
The level of the virus detected in the city’s wastewater is already as high as it was during the first wave of Omicron in January, when absences due to COVID-19 made more stress in hospitals, long residences duration and other businesses and made supply difficult. some services. And levels keep going up, Manuel pointed out.
He said the temporary closure of at least three summer camps in Quebec this week due to COVID-19 outbreaks could be a sign of what is to come.
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The rapid rise of the summer wave has surprised some. Manuel even said he thought summer would be relatively quiet, as has happened last summers during the pandemic, and that COVID-19 would return in the fall.
But the BA.5 variant, which is becoming dominant in Ontario, is so contagious that it has the ability to spread easily, even among people with previous immunizations for vaccination and disease, during a period when there is more people outdoors.
Omicron BA.5 subvariant is almost as infectious as measles, one of the most contagious diseases. Current evidence does not indicate that it is more severe than previous variants.
In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Ontario’s COVID-19 scientific advisory board also warned of the potential for the wave to be disruptive. He said the increase in hospitalizations is likely to be lower than with previous waves “but our hospitals are already very tense”.
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We have probably entered a wave driven by the subvariant Omicron BA.5.
Key messages: The increase in hospitalizations is likely to be lower than previous waves, but our hospitals are already very tense. (1/17)
– COVIDScienceOntario (@COVIDSciOntario) July 6, 2022
The scientific panel also noted that people can become re-infected even if they have recently become infected and even mild infections can be disruptive and increase the risk of long-term COVID.
The scientific table also encourages people to wear masks in crowded indoor environments to reduce their risk.
The wave could test the province’s individual approach to assessing the province’s pandemic public health risk, as it lifted most mandates earlier this spring. Some European countries that are now affected by the subvariant are considering or have decided to restore mask mandates in some situations to curb the wave.
All Ontario hospitals have maintained mask mandates and the province has continued to make them mandatory in long-term care homes and retirement homes, but there have been calls to extend them to all providers of masks. health and reduce conflicts.
The COVID-19 scientific advisory board also encourages people to upgrade their vaccines. About 60% of adults in the province have received a third dose. There are growing calls to expand access to fourth doses.
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