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July 8, 2022 • 52 minutes ago • Read 3 minutes • Join the conversation Dr. Wassim Saad, Chief of Staff at Windsor Regional Hospital, is shown in his office on Thursday, June 3, 2021. Photo by Dan Janisse / Windsor Star
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Local health officials warned Friday that Windsor-Essex is on the precipice of a seventh wave of COVID-19, with a new highly contagious strain that is easily re-infecting its victims.
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“He seems to have the ability to evade the immune system,” said Dr. Wassim Saad, chief of staff at Windsor Regional Hospital. “There have been reports of cases of patients acquiring this variant twice in a month, which we did not see with any previous variant.
“Previously, if you had an infection, you felt relatively protected because your immune system would protect you for at least a few months and sometimes up to six months. This is absolutely not the case with this variant.”
Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s medical director, told the Canadian press this week that the province is officially in a seventh wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the province will make a decision next week on whether to extend eligibility for the fourth doses of the vaccine.
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The culprit is a subvariant of Omicron called BA.5, which is fast becoming the dominant strain of the virus.
“I think it’s generally accepted that BA.5 will have a greater burden of disease,” said Dr. Shanker Nesathurai, an acting health officer in the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit.
Saad said the Windsor region is generally lagging behind a couple of weeks behind Toronto and other larger regions of Ontario, so the worst of this wave is likely to come. Nesathurai said it is possible that the new wave will continue to rise during the summer.
“We are going to see an increase in disease activity in the short to medium term,” he said. “I am concerned about the persistent activity of the disease in the fall as we have more people inside.”
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The pandemic is not over
The concern is that while BA.5 infections do not appear to be more severe than previous variants, more people are likely to become infected. This could lead to more hospitalizations for the elderly and people with other health problems.
Windsor Regional Hospital already has a shortage of beds and has an overcrowded emergency room, where the waiting time for a first assessment by a doctor often exceeds five hours.
Saad said the hospital had to stop elective surgeries for a couple of days this week due to the shortage of beds.
“It shows you that we’re staggering to the brink,” he said. “There is not much flexibility in the system and we do not have much capacity. Any additional stress on the system will harm you.
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“It’s one of those things where we always talk about being close to a breaking point. But if this seventh wave is significant, knowing that we are entering the summer months at capacity or above, it could be devastating for our ability to provide safe and adequate health care in our region. ”
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Nesathurai said it is time to renew vigilance.
“We need to change our strategy,” he said. “Part of that is that when we have increased disease activity we should have a greater number of public health restrictions.”
The health unit still recommends that people wear masks indoors where they are away from home. Nesathurai added that only 35 per cent of Windsor-Essex people are aware of their vaccinations. The recommended number of doses and boosters varies according to age and health status.
“I think the fact that we only have 35 per cent of the people who are up to date on their vaccines worries us that maybe as a community we could be more vigilant in trying to manage COVID-19,” Nesathurai said.
“The pandemic is not over.”
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