Two Montreal public health experts say Quebec has already entered a sixth wave of COVID-19, caused by Omicron’s BA.2 subvariant.
Posted at 5:09 p.m.
While the interim director of public health of Quebec, Luc Boileau, still refused on Sunday to conclude definitively on the appearance of a “sixth wave”, doctor Don Vinh, of the McGill University Health Center (MUHC), no doubt that this wave has already begun.
Vinh points out that Quebec has seen an increase in cases among the elderly and in long-term care homes, as well as a 60% increase in the number of health care workers on sick leave with the coronavirus, which clearly indicates that cases are on an upward curve.
Benoît Barbeau, virology expert in the department of biological sciences at the University of Quebec in Montreal, also believes that Quebec has entered a sixth wave, but he adds that there is no reason to be alarmist.
Professor Barbeau explains that with high and combined rates of vaccination and infections in the community, as well as the return of mild weather, which will soon make it easier to go outside, Quebec is much better equipped to do against this wave than the previous ones.
Ontario and British Columbia have also seen an increase in hospitalizations in recent days, but MUHC Dr. Vinh said it’s impossible to know how a new wave will evolve or if it will affect all of Canada.