Key Takeaways:
- New numbers demonstrate how severely the Omicron variation affected Canada, with some experts comparing it to a tsunami.
- The task team noted that COVID-19 does not seem to follow a seasonal trend and that Omicron is still growing.
With some academics referring to the Omicron wave as a tsunami, new statistics show how badly the Omicron variation affected Canada.
According to researchers with the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force of Canada, more than half of Canadians analyzed blood samples for both vaccination and illness antibodies.
According to Dr. Bruce Mazer, the task force’s associate scientific director of strategy, “that’s 100,000 infections a day since January.” “If you extrapolate, there are more than 17 million sick individuals. That almost equates to half of Canada’s population.”
According to the data, infection rates rose among men, women, and kids in every province.
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The task force discovered that young adults, with levels of antibodies against infection at 65%, had the highest amounts of blood donations made through Canadian Blood Services. The statistic decreased as people aged.
As the nation enters a pandemic stage where no government initiatives and the most transmissible virus variant is circulating, Mazer said this research serves as a reality check.
“It’s not over,” he declared. “By the very reality that this is super infectious, so many individuals are affected, it is harming the economy based on the count of people who have to skip work, the number of people who have to miss school, and the number of persons who have to take time off for their kids.” So, the effect is still present.
The task committee reported that Omicron is still expanding and that COVID-19 does not appear to follow a seasonal trend. According to Mazer, the new variety, BA.5, is sufficiently distinct from the initial strain to allow reinfection.
He advised all Canadians to stay up to date on their COVID-19 vaccinations and that, in risky situations, masking and distance are wise moves.
According to Mazer, the task team will keep working at least through the end of 2023. The federal government-organized group has thus far supported more than 100 studies.
Source: CTV News
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