COVID-19: Provincial & Federal Briefings - June 13 - 17, 2022
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A summary of developments from Monday, June 13 to Friday, June 17, 2022 follows.
Federal Government????
Technical COVID-19 Briefing??
Today, Dr. Tam and Dr. Njoo provided an update on COVID-19 in Canada
Dr. Tam reported that daily COVID-19 case counts, lab test positivity, and wastewater signals have stabilized, with most areas continuing to decline. Severe illness trends continue to decline as well, and the steady improvements in epidemiological indicators support the continued relaxing and pausing of measures.?
However, there have been early signals of increased activity in certain areas, with signs of growth in several emergent Omicron sub-lineages, including the BA2.12.1, BA4, and BA5 strains.?
Dr. Tam expressed her cautious optimism, while still emphasizing the need to maintain readiness for potential resurgences that could result in severe impact.?
COVID Alert Application Decommissioned ?
Also today, the Government of Canada has decommissioned the COVID Alert application.?The exposure notification application is now disabled and users can delete it from their devices.
While the pandemic is not over, the decision to decommission the COVID Alert application was agreed to with the provinces and territories because of the ongoing evolution of COVID-19 public health programming in each jurisdiction.
Federal COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates to be Suspended for Domestic Travellers and Federal Workers?
On Tuesday, June 14, the Canadian government announced it was suspending COVID-19 vaccination requirements for domestic and outbound international travellers, federally regulated transportation sector workers and federal government employees, starting on June 20. The vaccination requirements will also be lifted for domestic travellers on passenger trains and buses. This change does not affect border measures that require all travellers entering Canada to continue following entry requirements, including vaccination. Other public health measures, such as wearing a mask, continue to apply and will be enforced throughout a traveller’s journey on a plane or train.?Vaccine requirements for entry into Canada by foreign nationals remain unchanged at this time.?The Government of Canada will continue to evaluate measures and will not hesitate to make adjustments if there is a resurgence of the virus in the fall.?
Covid-19 Data Trends????
In the past week, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) reported 15,726 new COVID-19 cases, and 174?new deaths in Canada, bringing the cumulative total of cases to 3,897,876 and a total of 41,363 deaths.?????
?Ontario ??????
This week, Ontario has officially switched to weekly reporting of COVID-19 data, every Thursday, after more than two years of daily updates.
As of Thursday, there were 529 people with COVID-19 in hospitals. That's down from 586 at the same time last week. Of those patients, 109 were being treated in intensive care.
Over the course of the last seven days, the estimated number of daily COVID-19 cases was 642, down 749 cases from the same time last week. Another 33 Ontarians with COVID-19 died in the last seven days.
Currently, 90.5% of Ontarians, aged 5 or older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 87.2% have received both doses. In addition, 61.8% of people aged 18 or older are vaccinated with three doses.
Quebec
There we no press briefings or press releases on COVID-19 this week.
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However, lnterim National Director of Public Health Dr. Luc Boileau noted an increase in COVID-19 transmission over the last week during his June 14 press conference on monkeypox in the province.
The increase in COVID-19 cases comes as Quebec has removed nearly all public health measures and will no longer require masks on public transit as of this weekend.?The increase also coincides with large festivals and in-person conferences returning this summer, including the Canadian Grand Prix events starting in Montreal this weekend.
Dr. Boileau has called on people to remain prudent, and suggested that those who are at higher risk should take precautions such as mask-wearing and physical distancing.
Because of technical difficulties, the Santé Québec COVID-19 dashboard was not updated today. That being said, 4,048 new cases with 42 virus-related deaths were reported in the last 6 days. There was a net increase of 3 hospitalizations, bringing the total number of people being treated in hospital with the virus to 1,004. There was also a net increase of 8 patients in intensive care in the last 6 days, bringing the total to 27.
More than 20.3 million vaccine doses have been administered to Quebecers residing in and outside the province. The Santé Québec COVID-19 dashboard shows that 91% of the total eligible people aged 5 years and older have received their first vaccine dose and 55% their third dose while 14% of the total eligible people have received their fourth vaccine dose.
Alberta
As of 11:59 pm on Tuesday, June 14, the Alberta government lifted all remaining COVID-19 restrictions in the province. Mandatory masking on public transit and mandatory isolation came to an end. Health Minister Jason Copping said in a statement on Monday that while not required, isolation will remain recommended for those who display COVID-19 symptoms or have a positive test result.
In a statement on June 16, Minister Copping said that emergency departments and hospitals are still struggling under the strain of the Omicron variant, a late season flu, and other respiratory viruses. According to Minister Copping, the main factor for increased strain is the wave of patients in recent months due to deferred care over the past two years as well.
The province released updated COVID-19 statistics this week. As of June 15, there were new 1,442 cases and 42 deaths reported over 7 days. There are 719 people hospitalized with COVID-19, of which 19 are currently in intensive care. The positivity percentage, 7 day average is 13.21%. To date, 90.6% of the population 12 years and older are vaccinated with 1 dose and 87.1% of the population 12 years and older are vaccinated with 2 doses.
British Columbia
The BC Centre for Disease Control is now updating COVID-19 statistics on a weekly basis, every Thursday. As of June 11, there were 726 new cases and 50 deaths. As of June 16, there were 276 people hospitalized with COVID-19, 19 of which are in critical care. British Columbia’s average testing rate is 2,628 per 100,000.
Canada’s COVID-19 Tracker reported this week that 86.605% of all people in British Columbia have received at least one dose of a vaccine. 93.869% of all people in British Columbia have received at least two doses, but only 52.805% of all people in British Columbia are fully vaccinated with a third dose.
Clinical professor with the University of British Columbia’s faculty of medicine, Stephen Hoption Cann, said this week that while it’s difficult to determine how prevalent reinfections of COVID-19 are because data is limited, it should be expected that people can get COVID-19 more than once. This statement comes in response from concern amongst the Canadian public after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time on Monday, June 13. Professor Cann encourages everyone to do a personal risk assessment to prevent reinfection.?
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Glad to discuss further.?
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