MEXICO CITY (apro) .- “We are absolutely in the fourth wave” of the coronavirus pandemic, “there is no doubt about it,” admitted the scientific director of the Scientific Advisory Board on covid-19 in Ontario, Canada, Peter Juni.
Over the past seven days, there have been 1,500 cases per day on average, an increase of almost 60% from the previous week, in people between the ages of 20 and 39 without vaccination, RCI reported , Canadian radio.
There are currently 13,000 active cases and 12% hospital occupancy so far this week. One day, 511 patients are treated with covid-19, 206 people are in intensive care and an average of seven people die per day, said Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam.
Primarily, the increase in new cases of COVID-19 has been recorded in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec.
90% of cases come from people who have not been vaccinated and are more vulnerable to the highly contagious Delta variant; only 5% were recorded in people who were fully vaccinated.
“At the end of the day, we cannot go back to normal as we continue to face the challenge of having a large proportion of people who are not vaccinated,” Juni added.
This rebound could be drastically different from previous waves that overwhelmed several hospital systems and caused tragic deaths, due to the increase in vaccination, so they hope this wave will not be so deadly, Juni added.
About 71.1% (23.6 million people) of Canadians completed the immunization schedule with authorized biologics: Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson, which their research showed vaccines provide high levels of protection against serious illnesses. 19, including the fast-spreading Delta variant.
Fully vaccinated Canadians are 70% less likely to be hospitalized and 51% less likely to die from COVID-19, according to Canadian government estimates.
“We can effectively have more cases in our population without necessarily having a serious impact on our health system, but that does not mean that we are out of danger,” said the epidemiologist from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health from the University of Toronto. , Ashleigh. Tweet.
“The number of reproduction infections in many parts of the country is greater than one and that means we are in a period of exponential growth. What this tells us is that if we do nothing, we will continue to have a greater increase in cases, ”he said.
Experts have recommended continuing to wear the mask, continuing to vaccinate more Canadians, and not just let the virus run its course.
“This will be a disease that will primarily affect unvaccinated Canadians and under-vaccinated populations,” said Isaac Bogoch, infectious disease physician and member of the covid-19 vaccine working group in Ontario.
He explained that there would continue to be positive cases among those vaccinated, but proportionately they will not mean hospitalizations, he added.
Regarding the 40% of unvaccinated people, which concerns millions of people, including children under 12 who are not yet eligible for vaccination, the population remains at risk.
“If a large portion of these people get sick within a short period of time, our health care system will be affected and we will be in trouble,” he admitted.
The specialist attributed the rebound to easing health measures, as in Alberta, which since July 1 has lifted almost all public health restrictions, on the governor’s order, and plans to reduce isolation requirements by cases of contagion, tracing of infected people and asymptomatic tests to August 16.
For Juni, now is not the time for provinces like Ontario to relax their regulations with the Delta variant circulating across the country, although he clarified that this does not mean the total closure of activities, but rather to maintain daily precautions, such as the use of face masks and the cancellation of large meetings.
“If we let things continue as they are and adopt measures similar to those in Alberta, we could have, in a relatively short period of six to eight weeks, around 20,000 cases in intensive care units,” he said. said Juni.
For David Naylor, chairman of the task force, it is “much less likely” that the health service will overflow with vaccines, but if that happens it would be a problem, as frontline health workers are exhausted.
“This pressure will also hamper efforts to eliminate the huge backlog in health care delivery that exists across Canada,” he said.
University of Saskatchewan infectious disease specialist Alexander Wong said it was essential to encourage more Canadians to get vaccinated, to protect those who are not yet or are at risk, such as children, older people with weaker immune systems and immunocompromised people of all ages.
Perhaps they should make the vaccine compulsory or establish a system of vaccination certificates, he said.
Manitoba has already launched the Immunization Card and a smartphone app that grants special privileges to fully immunized residents.
In Quebec, as of September 1, the vaccination passport system will be launched to reduce the increase in infections.
“With the first signs of a Delta variant wave and the fall approaching, efforts to increase the proportion of fully vaccinated Canadians and to strengthen individual precautions, according to local public health boards, are critical measures to reduce the spread of the virus and reduce the risk of a resurgence that could lead to an overflow of health care capacity this fall and winter, ”Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam said in a dated statement. August 10.
“Travel aficionado. Twitter scholar. Writer. Extreme coffee guru. Evil pop culture fanatic.”