Highly-Transmissible Omicron Now Makes Up 20% of All Ontario Cases
Medical Officer of Health Dr. Thomas Piggott is strongly advising residents to remain vigilant in following public health measures because of the concerning spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant.
“Federal and provincial modelling suggests the Omicron variant is spreading faster than earlier projections, which could mean hundreds of daily cases in our local region,” said Dr. Piggott. “Now is the time to double-down on public health measures and adjust holiday plans because we are learning how highly transmissible Omicron is.”
Dr. Piggott noted while the severity of illness caused by Omicron is still unclear, even if it produces half as many cases of severe illness than Delta, the impact on contact tracing and our healthcare system would still be significant because much higher volumes of people would get sick. At today’s provincial media briefing, Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health stated that new projections from Public Health Ontario show Omicron cases may rise to up to 20% of all provincial cases in the coming days and then become a dominant strain – as in complete strain replacement of Delta – by the beginning of January.
Dr. Piggott emphasized that he and his team are monitoring the local situation very closely and are prepared to take any broader public health measures needed. In the meantime, he urged local residents to adjust their holiday plans to reduce the spread of COVID-19 by holding smaller gatherings, limiting travel and mingling of households, spending more time outdoors with friends and loved ones, wearing tightly fitting masks and ventilating indoor spaces with doors and windows, and above all getting vaccinated, especially booster doses and children aged 5-11.
Further updates to the community will be provided early next week.
The original PDF version of this notice is available here