TORONTO — With the Omicron variant poised to become Ontario’s dominant COVID-19 strain, experts want the province to explain how it plans to shift its pandemic response if many people are infected much more quickly than in previous waves.
“We obviously have dealt with this for two years, but this is very different,” said Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious diseases specialist at McMaster University.
“We’re going to see something I don’t think we’ve seen before.”
Ontario announced two weeks ago that it had detected Canada’s first two Omicron cases. Since then, the variant has come to represent about 11 per cent of infections, according to the province’s expert pandemic advisory panel, and has begun spreading in local communities.
The province’s top doctor has said he expects Omicron will become dominant within weeks. The development comes amid weeks of a steadily rising disease curve, with 1,476 cases reported on Sunday and a seven-day average of 1,236 daily infections, up from 926 a week ago.
Scientists are still probing Omicron’s exact characteristics. But based on trends seen in Omicron-dominant regions like South Africa, Chagla said Ontario must determine how it will respond if up to 10,000 people are infected each day.
That scenario would strain the current public health approach of tracing and testing the contacts of all infected people, he said, meaning resources would have to be prioritized.
“The way we’ve managed COVID in March of 2020 is going to have to be different when we see such high rates of transmission in our community. I think those discussions need to happen now,” Chagla said.
With so much potential spread, he said it’s also possible that swaths of health workers could be forced to isolate at once, putting essential services at risk. The province should figure out how it will avoid that situation, Chagla said.
“Going into the holidays, all of us — healthcare and otherwise — want some guidance in terms of how to deal with this so that we’re not scrambling and shutting down services when people need them the most.”
University of Toronto epidemiologist Dr. Jeff Kwong said Omicron is hitting Canada at the worst possible time, as health workers contend with burnout and pandemic-weary residents subject to relatively fewer public health restrictions gear up for holiday gatherings.
“I think it’s going to spread really quickly in Ontario,” Kwong said. “It’s going to be tough in the next month or two.”
2:05 COVID-19: Concerns rise over Omicron’s impact on healthcare system
The potential for rapid spread is concerning for high-risk residents, Kwong said, because the province’s booster shot plan was based on the Delta variant being the dominant COVID-19 strain, and those who need boosters the most may be exposed to Omicron before they get third doses.
He said it’s not possible to get third shots to everyone before Omicron shifts into high gear, but priority should go in the coming weeks to creative solutions for quickly vaccinating the vulnerable and frontline health workers.
People aged 50 and older will be eligible to book third doses starting Monday. Others including people 70 and older, Indigenous adults, frontline health-care workers, long-term care residents and people with certain health conditions are currently eligible for boosters, and the province has said it plans to open third dose bookings to all adults in the new year.
Getting a booster as soon as eligible is one way individuals can mitigate COVID risk, Kwong said, along with minimizing social indoor gatherings and prioritizing good ventilation. He said tighter capacity rules and stronger enforcement of mask policies could also help from the government side.
Chagla said preparations for major Omicron spread should happen regardless of other policy decisions.
“It’s going to spread through our population one way or another,” he said. “We just have to prepare.”
The provincial Health Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.
Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”
However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.
McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.
He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.
The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
