A highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus is spreading across Canada, causing another wave of infections, even among those who have recently recovered from COVID-19.
The Omicron BA.5 subvariant, and to a lesser extent BA.4, is largely behind the latest wave: the seventh since the pandemic and the third since the arrival of Omicron.
Both have shown an ability to evade the protection offered by the previous infection.
“The BA.5 subvariant has mutated to the point that your body doesn’t recognize it and people get infected again,” said Dr. Fahad Razak, an intern at St. John’s Hospital. Michael of Toronto and Scientific Director of Science COVID-19 of Ontario. Advisory Board.
“So you’re seeing this additional increase start in Ontario, and now it’s started in other parts of Canada as well.”
The good news is that data from countries where BA.4 and BA.5 have already been implemented, com South Africasuggest that they are no more severe than previous Omicron subvariants or more likely to cause hospitalizations.
However, the large number of people susceptible to illness (especially those vulnerable to serious illnesses), together with the overloaded emergency rooms in many parts of the country, it is a cause for concern, Razak said.
“Something that is a little less serious but that infects a lot of people means that the total number of Canadians who get sick, very sick and can die, can actually be bigger,” he said.
Razak noted a scientific analysis conducted by the Toronto Starwhich found that since mid-2021, Omicron has been more deadly for Ontarians aged 60 and over than the previous two waves combined due to the high volume of infections.
Razak is now among a chorus of experts and public health officials urging the Canadian public to get reinforcements to protect themselves from more serious illnesses.
“This third dose is incredibly valuable,” he said. “It gives you protection from serious illness and will give you at least a few weeks, maybe a couple of months, to protect you even from getting infected.
“So if you haven’t received that third dose, there’s no better time than now.”
Keep your vaccine “up to date”
Canada had one of the highest vaccination rates in the world after two doses, but absorption of subsequent injections has been slower. Across Canada, more than 40 percent of eligible Canadians have not yet received a third dose.
Razak says the messages about what it is to “completely vaccinate” need to change, given the evolution of the virus and the decline in vaccine immunity over time.
“Probably the best way to describe this is to keep vaccines up to date, rather than being completely vaccinated, in the face of a rapidly mutating virus.”
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Sarah Otto, an expert in modeling and evolutionary biology at the University of British Columbia, has been monitoring changes in the coronavirus and says it has changed rapidly.
BA.4 and BA.5 are likely to soon become the dominant strains across the country, he said.
These subvariants tend to infect the upper respiratory tract, he said, and “not so deeply in our lungs.”
“That said, there’s still a substantial mortality rate, especially if you haven’t had any immunity,” Otto said.
It also recommends that people eligible for a third dose receive one as soon as possible, and people older or more vulnerable to serious illness should receive a fourth.
“Why play Russian roulette with your health and that of your loved ones? Get a boost if you can,” he said. “This will protect you and those around you.”
There are no restrictions nearby
This week, officials from Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia acknowledged that their provinces had entered another wave of COVID-19.
In Quebecthe number of COVID patients in the province’s hospitals increased from 2007 to just under 1,500 in the last month, an increase of more than 50 percent.
Hospitalizations are also increasing week by week in British Columbia as well in Ontariowhere about 60 percent of confirmed cases of COVID-19 are the result of BA.5.
None of the provinces said there were public health restrictions, at least not during the summer.
“We are no longer about to impose things when people are well aware of the risks. It’s just a matter of remembering them,” Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé said Thursday.
Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé says that while COVID-19 cases are on the rise again in the province, it does not envisage the reintroduction of public health restrictions. (Jacques Boissinot / The Canadian Press)
For now, it’s up to the public to make informed decisions, more than two years after the pandemic, said Catherine Hankins, co-chair of Canada’s COVID-19 immunity working group and professor of epidemiology at McGill University, in an interview with CBC Montreal. Noon radio.
“We are in a different scenario, with a highly transmissible virus and no really established mandates,” he said. “We’re in a complicated time.”
For his part, Razak urged people to wear a mask if they gather inside in large groups and to gather outside, whenever possible.
If the cases increase again in the fall, he said, the threshold for reintroducing the mask warrant should be low.
“It’s about using things like masks to avoid the more aggressive steps of restraints or closures that were carried out before the pandemic,” he said.
And despite another increase in cases, Razak said there is reason to be hopeful.
“We now have a lot of immunity in our population, which helps protect us from serious diseases,” he said. “We have vaccines that remain remarkable, even though all these mutations occur. [They] We continue to be very protective against serious diseases, if we use them. “