Health officials did not provide a full update on COVID-19 hospital data on Sunday, citing scheduled maintenance of the site, but officials confirmed 10 new virus-related deaths. The county says more than 3,000 PCR tests were positive, but that number is considered underestimated due to limited access to the tests. Meanwhile, on Saturday, officials said 855 patients were being treated in hospital for COVID-19, levels that have not been seen since early March. This last wave is driven by the new BA.2 omicron sub-variant. The sixth wave comes as restrictions in Ontario are minimal – most measures have been lifted. “This wave will certainly be the first to see how this will affect Canadian society with few, if any, restrictions,” said infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch. Many experts suggest that preserving masks and maintaining the vaccine is the key – especially a booster dose. “A wave is coming and we removed the restrictions just when we needed them most, what is happening now is not at all surprising,” said Dr. Kashif Pirzada, an emergency physician in Toronto. “These measures should have been maintained. COVID is something we have to live with in the long run,” he said. But even among experts, there are varying levels of concern about the impact this sixth wave could have. “We are heading for a situation where we are flying blind. We do not have all the information, we are facing a wave and we do not know how bad it will be, but if it is like January, it will hit us again to the limit,” Pirzada said. Bogoch said he was comfortable with the level of immunity in the province, both through booster pistons and through infection, but went on to say that boosters should be a priority for everyone. “Most of the modeling suggests that this wave will not be as significant as the last wave, but of course it will continue to affect people,” he said. There are some calls for more to be done, including a stronger push for boosters and wider access to fourth installments. Bogoch said that while the fourth tranche could benefit some, it would not be the main tool to help combat this wave. He said that the third installments, the coverage and the continuation with other public health measures on a personal level will be the biggest differences.
