Just as Ontario prepares to lift more COVID-19 restrictions on Monday, healthcare officials in the region are getting ready for another wave of COVID-19.
"It is slightly more transmissible, but in terms of the severity, it is consistent with what we're seeing with the original Omicron variant," said Director of Epidemiology at the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit Ramsey D'Souza. "As time goes on, we will learn more and more."
The problem is volume. Most people will not get sick enough to go to the hospital, but as the number of infections in the community rises, so does the number of those who will suffer severe illness. Those people could still swamp the healthcare system.
It's the same variant behind the deadliest spike yet in Hong Kong.
That's why Acting Medical Officer of Health Doctor Shanker Nesathurai is pleading with the public to continue to wear face masks, even if they are not required. He reminded residents it is difficult to accurately gauge the virus's impact on the community without widespread testing. Only cases in high-risk settings are currently confirmed, so they could be unaware they are carriers.
Short-term, Nesathurai is confident local hospital administrators will manage the next wave of the pandemic. However, long-term, he's not so optimistic.
"I am very concerned about the burden to the healthcare system," he said. "Before the pandemic, hospitals were running at near full capacity, or over capacity, on a regular basis. We have to assign the right resources so that we can manage COVID at a baseline level, during its peaks, and also, all the other things that are important in health."
That will take a lot of money.
"As a doctor, I can tell you we have not invested in infrastructure in hospitals, and we need to spend more money," Nesathurai explained. "We have to make some tough decisions."
His comment echoes calls for greater investment in the healthcare system going back for decades.
Over the past week, the region saw a 24.4 per cent decrease in the high-risk case count. There were no new outbreaks, and there were four deaths compared to five the week before. However, the percentage of tests coming back from the lab positive is up, along with viral signals in wastewater. Hospitalizations climbed slightly in Windsor-Essex, although they decreased across Ontario.
