Jul 08, 2022 • 31 min ago • 3 min read • Join the discussion Dr. Wassim Saad, chief of staff at Windsor Regional Hospital, is seen in his office on Thursday, June 3, 2021. Photo by Dan Janisse / Windsor Star

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Local health officials warned Friday that Windsor-Essex is on the precipice of a seventh wave of COVID-19, with a new strain that is highly contagious and easily re-infects its victims.

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“It seems to have the ability to evade the immune system,” said Dr. Wassim Saad, chief of staff at Windsor Regional Hospital. “There have been case reports of patients acquiring this variant twice within a month, which we have not seen with any previous variant. “Previously, if you had an infection, you felt relatively protected because your immune system was going to protect you for at least a few months and sometimes up to six months. That is absolutely not the case with this variant.” Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s chief medical officer, told The Canadian Press this week that the province is officially in a seventh wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The province is set to make a decision next week on potentially extending eligibility for fourth doses of the vaccine, he said.

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The culprit is a subvariant of Omicron called BA.5, which quickly becomes the dominant strain of the virus. “I think it’s generally accepted that BA.5 will have a higher disease burden,” said Dr. Shanker Nesathurai, acting medical officer of health at the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit. Saad said the Windsor area generally lags behind Toronto and other larger areas in Ontario by a few weeks, so the worst of this wave is likely yet to come. Nesathurai said it is likely the new wave will continue to swell through the summer. “We will see increased disease activity in the short and medium term,” he said. “I worry about persistent disease activity in the fall as we have more people indoors.”

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The pandemic is not over
The concern is that while BA.5 infections do not appear to be more serious than previous variants, more people are likely to become infected. This could lead to more hospitalizations for the elderly and people with other health problems. Windsor Regional Hospital is already short of beds and dealing with an overcrowded emergency room where wait times for an initial evaluation by a doctor often exceed five hours. Saad said the hospital had to stop elective surgeries for a few days this week due to a lack of beds. “It shows you we’re on edge,” he said. “There’s not a lot of flexibility in the system and we don’t have a lot of capacity. Any additional pressure on the system will damage it.

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“It’s one of those things that we always talk about being close to a tipping point. But if this seventh wave is significant, knowing that we’re going into the summer months at or above capacity, it could be devastating to our ability to provide safe and adequate health care in our region.” Nesaturai said it is time for renewed vigilance. “We have to change our strategy,” he said. “Part of that is when we have higher disease activity, we should have a greater number of public health restrictions.” The health unit still recommends that people wear masks indoors where they are outside their homes. Nesathurai added that only 35 percent of people in Windsor-Essex are up to date on their vaccinations. The recommended number of doses and boosters varies by age and health status. “I think the fact that we only have 35 percent of people who are up to date on vaccinations worries us that maybe as a community we could be more vigilant in trying to manage COVID-19,” Nesathurai said. “The pandemic is not over.” [email protected] twitter.com/WinStarWilhelm

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