Ontario appears well into the sixth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the BA.2 subvariant, scientists advising the Ford government said Thursday afternoon. The province may even have peaked in the number of cases.
These are the first projections released in nearly a month by the Ontario Science Advisory Table.
In mid-March, experts predicted that hospital (and intensive care unit) occupancy rates would increase in the weeks that followed. They now project that it will rise again for some time, but that the peak will be lower than that seen during the fifth wave.
Exactly 1,392 patients with COVID-19 were hospitalized in Ontario on Thursday. During the fifth wave, there were 3,600 COVID patients in hospitals.
The high number of infections among health system employees could, however, complicate access to care, estimates the Ontario Scientific Advisory Board. The 250 positive cases counted per day among intensive care workers “cause stress to hospital operations, contribute to burnout and impact patient care”.
Analyzes of 103 Ontario wastewater treatment plants indicate that the number of COVID-19 cases in the province has been on a downward trend for the past few days. “It is not clear if this plateau will remain, or if there will be an increase after the celebrations [de Pâques et du ramadan] write the scientists in their report.
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.
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