Viral loads of COVID-19 in three Saskatchewan cities have increased for two consecutive weeks and the rapidly spreading Omicron BA.5 subvariant has now been detected in wastewater from all three, according to the latest wastewater report from the University of Saskatchewan.
Throughout the pandemic, U of S researchers have been testing sewage from some Saskatchewan cities for signs of COVID-19. Wastewater samples can help predict future increases or decreases in positive case diagnoses.
The report released on Monday indicates that viral loads of COVID in Saskatoon, Prince Albert and North Battleford increased by 78.1%, 78.9% and 40.2% respectively during this reporting period compared to the weekly average of the previous week.
BA.5 accounted for 14.2% of the viral load in Saskatoon, 14.8% in North Battleford and 2.17% in Prince Albert, according to the report.
John Giesy, professor of toxicology and fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, said that these data, together with data from other Canadian cities and countries, indicate “that there is acts as the start of a new seventh wave driven by the BA.5 variant.”
The viral loads in this week’s report are among the lowest recorded since January this year, but it is the second week in a row that viral loads have increased, which the U of S researchers interpret as the start of a trend.
Projection of infections, hospitalizations impossible without provincial data
For several weeks, the University of Saskatchewan’s sewage monitoring team has been asking the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) for weekly data on COVID hospital admissions so they can project the number of infections and deaths. hospitalizations, as they have done for previous waves.
The province no longer publishes weekly COVID data and has moved to a monthly model. Without that data, it’s impossible to project hospitalizations and infections, Giesy said.
The process of obtaining hospitalization data was slow. There were back and forth with the Ministry of Health. The latest communication between Giesy and the SHA shows that a draft data sharing agreement may not be distributed to the ministry and other stakeholders until the end of July due to the summer holidays.
“It won’t be as helpful then as it would be now,” Giesy said.
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has also asked the wastewater monitoring team to participate in a national data analysis program, but this too is on hold until researchers have access to the data.
“Travel aficionado. Twitter scholar. Writer. Extreme coffee guru. Evil pop culture fanatic.”