Hamilton reports under 50 new COVID-19 cases, vaccines have advantage over advancing variants

A McMaster University specialist in the genomics of viruses is suggesting the COVID-19 pandemic is now seeing round three of the fight against coronavirus variants of concern (VOC) which have no less than six different incarnations being tracked by public health units across Ontario.

Researcher Andrew McArthur says alterations in the virus became significant between November and January when three variants with “commonalities” emerged from three different locations — the U.K., Brazil and India — and spread globally.

All three are generally considered to spread more efficiently among communities and make people sicker than the first iteration of the virus.

McArthur believes the B.1.617 mutation first discovered in India, renamed ‘Delta’ by the World Health Organization this week, may now have found a new “evolutionary path” amid a recent coronavirus crisis in India that has claimed over 300,000 lives.

“It’s really early for teasing apart, but it does seem at least equal or greater in transmission than the B.1.1.7 from the UK (Alpha),’ said McArthur.

“It does a small ding on the vaccines, not enough really to concern us, but we don’t know if it’s increasing in death rates in Ontario.”

The latest COVID-19 epidemiological report from the province, released on Monday, revealed that cases tested for mutations are beginning to settle which could mean another unidentified variant has entered Ontario.

The researcher says he expects Ontario to have more data on the Delta variants path in about a week since the province’s genomics network sequences a minimum of 10% of all positive samples to monitor for emerging variants in Ontario.

It’s estimated that about a quarter of all cases new cases in Ontario are likely the Delta variant.

“We sequence the genome of that pathogen that’s infecting the patient,” McArthur said.

“Ontario and the federal government have invested a huge amount of infrastructure, so while it was difficult early in the pandemic, this is becoming very effective at this stage.”

As of Thursday Hamilton public health has reported the identity of just under 7,000 variants among the city’s 20,000-plus cases.

The Alpha variant accounts for just under 5,000 of those recorded.

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Dr. Dominik Mertz, director of infection prevention and control at Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS), says the province’s current model to identify the more transmissible Delta variant is “guesswork” at this point since only a small proportion of testing material spots that variant.

Mertz says one approach used to track the B.1.617 variant is to assume whatever doesn’t identify as the B.1.1.7 variant is presumably a Delta since current testing measures can more easily identify the Alpha version of the virus.

“That’s not a perfect approach, but a rough approach we can take,” said Mertz.

Mertz says the dominance of the Alpha variant among Hamilton’s screenings is good news since it likely means less of the Delta variant is spreading in the community.

McArthur says the community is now in “a better place” since vaccines are now more readily available and appear not to have lost any significant efficacy despite the spread and mutation of variants.

“Now we have first doses in high numbers and second doses rolling out, so while the virus has changed the landscape so have we,” McArthur said.

“I would say things are actually in our court now, we are the ones with the advantage because of vaccination.”

Mertz concurs saying research shows that there is some “evasiveness” in a candidate with only a single vaccine shot, but the chance of infection appears to diminish after a second shot.

“But once you’re fully vaccinated, the efficacy seems to be very similar to how effective it is for all of the strains.”

As of Thursday close to 9.5 million vaccine doses have been administered across Ontario with close to 340,000 given out in Hamilton. Just over 64 percent of Hamiltonians over the age of 18 and 16 per cent of youth aged 12 and over have received a vaccine to date.

Two more mobile vaccination clinics dispensing second doses of the Moderna vaccine will go for those aged 80 and up early next week at the Ancaster Rotary Centre Sunday and Saltfleet Community Centre in Stoney Creek on Monday.

For the 14th straight day, Hamilton reported under 100 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday and its 390th virus-related death.

Public health added 49 new COVID-19 cases to the city’s pandemic total of 20,704 as of June 3. The last time Hamilton recorded 100 cases or more was May 20.

The city’s seven rolling average of new cases is 61.

The latest fatality was a person in their 80s.

One new workplace outbreak was declared on Wednesday at the Dairy Queen on Queenston Road in Stoney Creek. The store has four cases among staff members.

There are six reported workplace outbreaks in Hamilton involving 18 total cases as of June 3.

The city closed an outbreak at the Hatt’s Off supportive housing facility in Dundas. The surge only had one staff case over 15 days.

Four supportive housing locations have current outbreaks tied to 27 total cases.

Hamilton has 92 cases tied to 17 active outbreaks as of Thursday.

Active cases continued to drop again day-over-day to 474 on Thursday, from 494 on Wednesday.

The city’s reproductive number — the average number of people an infected person is passing COVID-19 on to — remains at 0.68.

The percentage of Hamilton tests returning from Ontario labs as positive for COVID-19 is 6.1 per cent.

The number is higher than the province’s last reported number, 2.8 per cent, on June 3.

Hamilton’s two hospital agencies are reporting 70 COVID-19 patients occupying beds across the city.

St. Joe’s says it has 24 patients with COVID-19, with 17 in intensive care (ICU).

Hamilton Health Sciences facilities have 48 with 22 suffering from the effects of the coronavirus in an ICU.