By: Thomas I. Likness
Eagle News Service
(Eagle News) — Canadians could be ringing in the New Year with a fifth wave of COVID-19 the country’s top doctor warned Friday.
According to new modeling by the Public Health Agency of Canada, daily cases in Canada could reach 26,600 by the middle of January if the Omicron variant becomes the dominant strain.
“I’ve been saying the winter period is going to be a bumpy road towards a brighter spring,” Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam told a news conference. “So this is another bump on the road and we still don’t know enough about the Omicron variant except it looks like it’s very transmissible.”
Tam says it’s believed the Omicron variant is three times more contagious than the current dominant variant — Delta.
She says even if Omicron does not spread as rapidly as feared, cases caused by Delta could still rise to 7,000 per day.
As of Friday, there were 87 cases of Omicron in Canada. That’s expected to grow because of community transmission.
Although many public health experts say Omicron infections are not as severe, Tam worries about the volume of cases.
“Even if the proportion of those who get Omicron who gets severely ill is tiny — if you get enough cases, you still have enough severe outcomes to impact your hospitals and your ICUs,” she said.
Limit holiday celebrations
And that has prompted her to advise Canadians to put the brakes on holiday celebrations.
“Keeping private gatherings small is quite important at this point while we learn more,” said Tam.
Compounding the problem is the cold weather Canada has during the winter which keeps people indoors in poorly ventilated surroundings which promotes the spread of the Covid virus.
As the pandemic enters its third year, the Canadian healthcare system is trying to cope with a backlog of elective surgeries and tens of thousands of patients who have had other medical procedures delayed because of a lack of resources.
Tam repeated her advice to Canadians to follow public health measures and get fully vaccinated.
(Eagle News Service)