Test positivity has also risen to 13.5, the highest rate reported since May, it said on Thursday. The province reported there are now 712 hospitalizations due to COVID-19, up from 585 at that time last week. There are 110 patients in the intensive care unit due to the virus, up from 95 last Thursday. The new numbers come as Ontario Public Health released its latest weekly epidemiological summary, which noted that the province’s seventh wave of COVID-19 began on June 19. Ontario’s top doctor confirmed the new surge only Wednesday, saying the province is now in its third week of the spike. According to the summary, case rates have increased in 25 of Ontario’s 34 public health units since July 5 and across all age groups. The biggest jump was among children aged 0-4, with cases in this group increasing by 40%. Incidence rates remain highest among those 20 and older and are still higher among those 80 and older. According to the latest weekly epidemiological summary from Public Health Ontario, the positivity rate is on the rise, rising to 11.2% on July 5 from 8.4% reported the previous week. This comes as the volume of tests fell to 56,642 from 62,804 tests the previous week. (Public Health Ontario) While admissions of COVID-19 to hospitals and ICUs are slowly increasing, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore says he expects the eventual impact on the health care system to be more modest than previous waves. The BA.5 subvariable is highly contagious, although Moore said there is no evidence to suggest it is more severe than the subvariables responsible for previous waves. The hope, he said, is that continued vaccinations will keep most people infected with the subvariant out of the hospital.
Ontarians under the age of 60 are still not eligible for a 2nd reminder
Ontario lifted its remaining mask mandates in early June, and there is no indication the province will require them again until possibly the fall if the strain on the health care system becomes severe enough, Moore suggested Wednesday. Moore also said an announcement about expanded eligibility for second boosters could be coming soon, but did not provide details. The province’s reluctance to open up fourth doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to more adults has drawn criticism from some health professionals. The booster shots temporarily increase protection against serious outcomes from the disease to about 90 percent, Moore said, but that protection declines every month. By five months, protection against serious health outcomes drops to around 70%, with the effect even more pronounced in the elderly. About 7.4 million Ontarians have already received a booster, and nearly 90 per cent of those shots were given at least five months ago, according to recent Ontario Public Health Data. About five million people have yet to get a first booster shot, including about 1.6 million Ontarians over the age of 50, Moore said. Meanwhile, about 1.3 million eligible Ontarians — adults age 60 and older — received a second booster shot.
Hospital staff morale has plummeted, ER doctor says
Meanwhile, two and a half years into the pandemic, one doctor warns that Ontario’s hospital system will struggle to cope with a significant influx of COVID-19 patients, with emergency departments in particular under incredible constant pressure. “I can’t think of a time when morale has been lower than now. People have been working full tilt for a long time,” said Dr. Kashif Pirzada, an emergency room physician in Toronto. Pirzada told CBC Radio’s Metro Morning that many hospitals are retiring early or leaving the field altogether. Emergency departments are being pushed to the limit amid understaffing and shortages, as well as an increase in people seeking treatment they put off earlier in the pandemic, he noted. Staffing constraints and the COVID-19 outbreak recently caused the emergency department at Perth and Smiths Falls Regional Hospital to temporarily close. While the ongoing seventh wave may be less severe for hospitals, Pirzada said he also worries about the colder months ahead when Ontarians will head indoors without mandatory coverage. “This wave of COVID that we’re getting right now will probably be lighter because of the better weather. But can you imagine what will happen in the fall and winter if we’re still understaffed and have an even higher disease burden?”
