Ontario has officially entered its seventh wave of COVID-19, this time driven by the Omicron BA.5 subvariant, the province’s top doctor confirms. “Unfortunately, yes, we are in another wave,” said Dr. Kieran Moore, the province’s chief medical officer, told CBC News on Wednesday after Ontario’s scientific COVID-19 advisory panel showed exponential growth in most public health units. Moore says the province is now looking at further eligibility for booster doses and that a decision on that will come soon. The BA.5 subvariant has been climbing slowly since early June, but really started to “take off” in the middle of the month, becoming a dominant strain, Moore said. Ontario can likely wait another four to five weeks in this wave, which is now in its third week, he said, adding that infections are expected to increase over the next 10 days before beginning to slow. The new wave comes amid the summer months, when many spend more time outdoors – which would otherwise be expected to limit the spread of transmission, raising questions about what will happen as more people go indoors later in the year . “A lot of unknowns for the fall, but I can assure all Ontarians that we are preparing for it,” Moore said. WATCHES | Ontario’s top doctor confirms 7th wave of COVID-19 has begun: “We may ask Ontarians to wear masks as we go indoors in the fall, and we may mandate that if our health system has too many people being admitted, too many people waiting in emergency departments… Everyone we want to keep our health system at capacity.” In a series of tweets on Wednesday, the scientific panel pointed to several key indicators signaling the start of a wave, just over a month after most public health measures, including mask orders, ended. Test positive over 10% for 1st time since May For the first time since May, positive tests are above 10 percent, with sewage signals rising across the province as a whole and in most areas, the scientific panel says. The story continues About 80 percent of public health units are seeing an exponential increase in cases, though the group says the true number is hard to determine since the province moved to limit PCR testing. On top of that, Ontario is seeing its first increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations since May, with the number of people admitted for the virus higher than at any time last summer. The latest figures tracked by the science board show that as of June 29, 605 people were hospitalized as a result of the virus. This is an increase of 89 people compared to the previous week. An estimated six people were dying a day from the virus on July 3, up from three the previous week, the group says. Indications of a new wave in Ontario come as several G10 countries have already seen a jump in cases stemming from Omicron subvariants, including France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland, among others. Take the 3 doses “now,” if you haven’t already, the team says The team says the current evidence does not indicate that BA.5 is more serious than the strains that caused previous waves or that it will lead to the level of hospitalizations seen at earlier points in the pandemic. “However, any increase comes at a time when hospitals are already facing staff shortages and record waiting times – this affects us all,” the advisory panel said. “And if BA.5 spreads widely, we may see an increase in deaths among higher-risk groups, such as the elderly, as seen in previous waves.” LISTEN | COVID is on the rise this summer. Are we facing a hard fall?: The team advises anyone in a busy indoor public environment 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 had a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine should “do so now,” the group says. Anyone age 60 or older or immunocompromised should also get their fourth dose now, he says, noting that while updated vaccines targeting newer variants may be available this fall, “it makes sense to get the vaccines you meet criteria for now”. LISTEN | What the new COVID sub-variant means for Ontario: “You can be reinfected by BA.5 even if you have recently been infected by an older strain,” the team says. “Non-serious infections can still disrupt your life and increase your long-term risk of COVID.” Providing a clear, complete picture about the COVID-19 situation has become increasingly difficult over the past several months after the provincial government restricted lab testing and stopped releasing school-related data. On June 11, the province also switched to weekly reporting of COVID-19 data after more than two years of daily updates.
