COVID-19 infections may be slowly starting to rise again in Canada, new data from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) suggests.
“There are signs of continued fluctuations in some COVID-19 activity indicators after a long period of gradual decline,” the agency’s online epidemiology update said on Tuesday.
“This may be an early sign of increases in activity.”
COVID-19 activity is still low to moderate across the provinces and territories, the update said.
Dr. Allison McGeer, an infectious diseases specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, said COVID-19 cases are on the rise in the U.S. and in other parts of the world.
“I think the solid evidence is that COVID is coming back (in Canada),” she said, noting that noticeable increased activity likely won’t happen for “another few weeks at least.”
Public health experts are using wastewater surveillance across the country and COVID-19 test positivity rates to determine the level of COVID-19 activity.
Although COVID PCR testing in the general public has largely stopped, people are still tested if they are hospitalized or if they have COVID symptoms and are potential candidates for Paxlovid treatment, McGeer said.
Waning immunity as vaccines wear off, the presence of new subvariants and the fact that people will be moving indoors in the fall are all factors that will play a role in the rise of cases, she said.
XBB subvariants of the Omicron variant accounted for 99 per cent of COVID-19 cases that were genetically sequenced the week of July 16, the Public Health Agency of Canada said.
The “daughter” of the XBB.1 family, EG.5, is expected to start dominating in the coming weeks, said Dawn Bowdish, an immunologist at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont.
EG.5 appears to have more immunity-evading properties than other variants and is therefore likely to be more contagious, Bowdish said.
There’s no sign that EG.5 is more virulent, meaning more likely to cause serious illness among otherwise healthy people, she said.
But the fact it’s more contagious, Bowdish said, means it’s still a significant threat.
“One of the universal truths in infectious disease is having a more contagious variant that’s a little bit less virulent actually causes more death and disability than a highly virulent one that’s less contagious because it can just find those vulnerable people,” she said.
More people could be vulnerable this fall, Bowdish said, because many people in Canada didn’t get the bivalent booster shot, which provided protection against Omicron and its subvariants.
Also, as a member of the Omicron family, EG.5 “does not seem to be any less likely to cause long COVID or long-term chronic health issues than the earlier variants,” she said.
An increase in COVID-19 cases will once again take the heaviest toll on seniors and people who are immunocompromised, both Bowdish and McGeer said.
“Vaccination this fall will preserve the lives and health of older adults,” McGeer said.
Because the updated vaccines against COVID-19 expected this fall were developed to target Omicron’s XBB subvariant family, they will likely “have really great efficacy at both preventing severe infection, but also at least temporarily reducing the risk of symptomatic disease,” Bowdish said.
In an email, the Public Health Agency of Canada said it’s not known for sure when a significant rise in cases might happen.
“Although seasonality of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has not been established, other respiratory viruses such as influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) typically increase in the fall and winter months,” a spokesperson said.
“COVID-19 vaccination can help increase protection and reduce the impact of COVID-19 on the health system while these other viruses are circulating.”
It’s not yet known when the new formulations of COVID-19 vaccines will become available.
In addition to getting the vaccine when it becomes available, public health agencies across the country continue to advise staying home when feeling sick as a protective measure against spreading COVID-19.
Mask mandates across Canada have largely been lifted, but are still in place in patient-care areas of many hospitals, especially in the Greater Toronto Area.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 15, 2023.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
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