‘Lessons have been hard-learned’: Canadians urged to remain cautious as COVID-19’s fourth wave begins to recede - Toronto Star

OTTAWA—The fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is showing signs of receding at the national level, but federal public health officials continue to caution that the regional picture remains less rosy.

Updated modelling released by Health Canada on Friday suggests nationwide, the pandemic has dropped out of a growth pattern nationally for the first time since mid-July.

“Nevertheless, over the past month, lessons have been hard-learned where measures were relaxed too much or too soon, and especially where vaccination coverage remains low, providing further cautionary tales on the relentless behaviour and severe impacts of this virus,” chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam said in a briefing.

More than 82 per cent of eligible Canadians are now fully vaccinated.

Health Canada said Friday that new cases among unvaccinated people were 10 times higher than among the fully vaccinated, while hospitalized cases among unvaccinated people were 36 times higher.

On average, 2,500 people with COVID-19 were being treated in hospitals each day over the past week, including 770 in intensive-care units, and an average of 38 deaths were reported daily.

Tam warned that with winter coming, and the potential for the normal resurgence of respiratory illness, the health-care system remains at risk of being overwhelmed.

“Increasing vaccination coverage is not only important to reduce the pool of susceptible people and lessen the impact of the Delta wave, but also to limit the spread to children too young to be vaccinated and into schools and beyond,” Tam said.

Last week, Pfizer submitted data from a clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine on children aged five to 11, and made a formal request to the U.S. government on Thursday for approval to use the vaccine on that age group.

Pfizer’s Canadian spokeswoman said the company is working with Health Canada on the final steps before such a request is made here.

“We are aiming to file this submission by mid-October,” said Christina Antoniou.

With files from The Canadian Press

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2021-10-08 21:00:00Z
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