Niagara’s acting medical officer says COVID-19 is “not as deadly” as it once was but suggests residents should look at putting on masks indoors and getting vaccine booster shots as the region enters a fall wave of the affliction.
Dr. Mustafa Hirji says the measures are something the community should revisit not only to fight off COVID but other respiratory illnesses, like the flu.
“I think every year we should be looking at that when the virus comes back. … This is a time for us to go back and wear a mask for a few weeks to make sure that we all are better protected,” Hirji told 900 CHML’s Good Morning Hamilton.
“Once the wave is over, we can go back to choosing if we think it’s right for us or not.”
Multiple data sources in Niagara, including wastewater analysis, hospitalizations and increasing outbreaks, imply that COVID-19 infections are on the rise in the region.
The fall wave has seen hospitalizations double in the last two weeks to 90 with three additional deaths recorded in the same time period, according to data released Wednesday.
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Comparably, Niagara health officials reported just over 20 hospitalizations due to COVID during the last week of September.
Public health is now monitoring 16 outbreaks at health-care facilities across the region.
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Most of the outbreaks are at long-term-care homes (LTCH) which have seen a 40 per cent increase over the past two weeks.
Of the 387 institutional outbreaks reported last week by Public Health Ontario, retirement homes and LTCHs account for 260 combined surges across the province.
Additional concern surrounds yet another variant, BQ.1.1, which is the mutation standing out among the more than 300 Omicron sub-variants that the World Health Organization (WHO) is currently tracking.
Hirji says recently released bivalent booster shots, designed to target Omicron’s BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, are still something locals should look at despite questionable efficacy against new variants.
“I do worry that this fall we’re going to see COVID-19 basically come back and hit us hard due to our complacency,” Hirji said.
“If we get the vaccine boosters, we start wearing the masks again, … make sure we stay home when we’re sick, I think we can actually outsmart the virus.”
Ontarians aged 12 and older are now eligible to get the bivalent COVID-19 booster dose.
Eligibility expands on Monday, Oct. 17, for those who have completed their primary vaccine series.
Appointments can be made through the provincial booking system, local public health units, and participating pharmacies and health care providers.
— with files from Gabby Rodrigues
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