Infected one after the other? More and more Quebecers are contracting COVID-19 for a second time within a few weeks, which shows that rapid reinfection with the BA.2 sub-variant would be less and less anecdotal. The risk of reinfection with Omicron would also be 10 times greater than with the Delta variant, according to recent data from the United Kingdom.
At the end of January, barely a few days after the start of face-to-face classes, the whole family of the DD Marie-Michelle Bellon has contracted COVID-19. Just last week, the disease had a double whammy, infecting the whole clan again just eight weeks after its first pass, following a new outbreak at the children’s high school.
Nausea, diarrhea, fatigue: the symptoms reappeared, and rapid tests – and PCR, in the case of DD Bellon — confirmed that everyone was indeed infected again.
“I am devastated for my teenagers, who have already missed two weeks of school and whom I feel more and more demotivated. We thought we were protected, wrongly. Twice in eight weeks is really painful. This time, my symptoms lasted longer than the first, especially for the headache and the nausea,” explains this three-times vaccinated doctor.
“These repeated infections have an impact on our health. Each time, new people are at risk of developing long-lasting COVID symptoms, ”adds the one who is also the medical coordinator of COVID-Stop. This collective has been asking for almost two years for the recognition of aerosol transmission, the wearing of masks in schools and the presence of air purifiers in classrooms.
This internist, who worked in the COVID unit at Notre-Dame hospital, urges the Legault government to warn Quebecers against the risk of rapid reinfection. “Letting people believe that you are protected by a recent infection or that you can re-infect yourself repeatedly without sequelae is really not the right message,” she says.
Worrisome indicators
A recent report by the UK’s public health agency, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), seems to prove him right. In this country where 68% of the population is triple vaccinated, the BA.2 wave hit hard several weeks before hitting Quebec. The UKHSA has just ruled that the risk of re-infection with Omicron (December 2021 to mid-March 2022) is 10 times greater than the risk with Delta (May to December 2021).
A doctoral student in immunology at the University of Manitoba, Julie Lajoie also couldn’t believe her eyes when she, her partner and her two young children tested positive last weekend, barely four weeks after a first infection. . “My daughter had contracted the virus at daycare in early March. A test revealed she had COVID. We all had symptoms then. Then, last week, she was sick again. After two days, his test was clearly positive. On Saturday, we were all,” says the researcher, who is now worried about the risk of reinfection with the BA.2 variant, especially in young children.
Nursing student Leyli Machouf has also just contracted the virus again. She got very sick around New Year’s Day, and she didn’t have time to get her third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. “I was declared positive on March 29, two days after my first symptoms, including nausea, muscle pain and extreme fatigue. We recommend [présentement] to wait at least three months after infection before being vaccinated; I thought I was protected. The message is confusing,” she says.
Geneviève Duplain Cyr, pharmacist at the University Hospital Center of Sherbrooke, also had the impression of replaying in the same film in February. Her two little girls had COVID-19, confirmed by screening tests, at the end of 2021. Two months later, her three-year-old daughter contracted the virus again at the CPE. “It was similar, with a high fever, maybe a little less the second time. The whole family got it again, except me. »
Éric Breault, 38, a beneficiary attendant at the same hospital, was less fortunate. He and his nine-year-old son were infected with SARS-CoV-2 in late November. Struggling with significant breathing difficulties, the father had to go to the emergency room, where he was diagnosed with long-lasting COVID. “I knew I had the Delta because I was questioned by Health Canada. He returned to work in mid-January, then was infected with Omicron on February 12. “Some symptoms are less serious than the first time, but I have a lot more symptoms, around twenty. »
Still little data
Scientific data on the risk of reinfection with BA.2 is still tenuous.
A Danish study estimated a 25% risk of reinfection with this subvariant in unvaccinated or inadequately vaccinated people. A Qatari study places the risk of reinfection with BA.2 after Omicron at between 5% and 12%. Published data by the English organization LongCovid Kids report 90-day reinfection rates of 4.5% in under-5s, 17.1% in 5-10-year-olds, and 24% in 10-14-year-olds. Among adults, the rates vary between 16.9% (20-24 years) and 3.3% (70-74 years), and fall sharply with age.
Either way, the unvaccinated are the most likely to be re-infected, according to the UKHSA. “If we rely on the figures from the United Kingdom, these rates are possible here, especially since we are lifting all the sanitary measures at the same time. In Manitoba, we no longer even wear a mask to protect ourselves! We need to follow up on this reality,” says researcher Julie Lacroix.
“We cannot resign ourselves to being infected every two months. Living with the virus means adapting and implementing long-term government strategies, such as new air quality standards and subsidies to help businesses adjust, ”argues the DD belloon.
In government, the choice of words to describe the current state of the pandemic still caused a stir on Wednesday, 48 hours after François Legault’s controversial remark that COVID-19 was compared to a “cold… pretty much”. In parliamentary committee, the acting national director of public health of Quebec, Dr.r Luc Boileau, maintained that this remark “was true” and “responsible”, adding however a few minutes later that the abrupt lifting of the state of emergency “kill[ait] of the world “.