Ontario has likely entered a new wave of COVID-19 driven by the Omicron BA.5 subvariant, the province’s scientific advisory board said Wednesday, citing exponential growth in most public health units.
The COVID-19 scientific advice table points to several key indicators that, he says, indicate the start of a wave, just over a month after the end of most public health measures, including the mandates of masks.
For the first time since May, the positivity of the tests exceeds 10%, the group of experts said in a series of tweets on Wednesday. Sewage signs are increasing throughout the province in general and in most regions, he added.
About 80 percent of public health units are experiencing exponential growth in cases, although the group says the actual number of reproductions is difficult to reduce as the province moved to limit PCR testing.
4) ~ 80% of public health units have exponential growth in cases (Rt> 1), indicating that this is occurring across the province (Note, Rt is more difficult to interpret given the evidence of limited PCR).
(7/17) < a href="https://t.co/XXwMWwNCU1">pic.twitter.com/XXwMWwNCU1
– @ COVIDSciOntario
In addition, Ontario is experiencing its first increase in hospitalizations for COVID-19 since May, with the number of people admitted to the virus higher than at any time last summer.
The latest figures from the scientific table show that as of June 29, 605 people were hospitalized as a result of the virus. This is an increase of 89 people over the previous week.
An estimated six people a day died from the virus on July 3, more than three the previous week, the group says.
Indications of a new wave in Ontario are given as several G10 countries have already seen a jump in cases driven by Omicron subvariants, such as France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland, among others. .
“Maybe we’ll be a couple of weeks behind on this increase,” the advisory group said.
Get the third dose “now” if you haven’t already, the group says
The group says current evidence does not suggest that BA.5 is more severe than the strains that drove previous waves or that it will lead to the level of hospitalizations seen in earlier times of the pandemic.
“However, any increase comes at a time when hospitals are already dealing with staff shortages and record waiting times, this affects us all,” the advisory board said.
“And if BA.5 spreads widely, we may see an increase in deaths among higher-risk groups, such as the elderly, as was observed during previous waves.”
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Barry Pakes is the health officer for the York region.
The group advises anyone in an indoor public environment full of people to wear a high-quality mask and ventilate as much as possible by opening doors and windows for airflow.
Anyone over the age of 18 who has not received a third dose of a vaccine against COVID-19 should “get it now,” the group says.
Anyone 60 years of age or older or immunocompromised should also take their fourth dose now, he says, noting that while updated vaccines targeting newer variants may be available this fall, “it makes sense to get vaccines for which you are eligible for now “.
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COVID is on the rise in Ontario and the new BA.5 subvariant is expected to soon become the dominant strain in the province, says Dr. Fahad Razak, head of Ontario’s COVID-19 scientific advisory board. Dr. Sohal Goyal, chief physician at a “COVID, Cold and Flu Clinic” in Mississauga, says he is seeing an increase in patients.
“You can be re-infected with BA.5 even if you have recently been infected with a previous strain,” the group says. “Non – serious infections can still disrupt your life and increase your risk of COVID in the long run.
Providing a clear and complete picture of the state of COVID-19 has become increasingly difficult in recent months, after the provincial government restricted laboratory testing and stopped publishing school-related data.
On June 11, the province also switched to weekly COVID-19 data reports after more than two years of daily updates.