Canada has recorded its 30,000th death from COVID-19 since the pandemic began in early 2020, surpassing a grim milestone just as the country prepares for the potential fallout from rising infections caused by the Omicron variant.
Ontario reported nine more deaths from COVID-19 on Thursday morning, bringing Canada’s total to just over 30,000 as Ottawa and some provinces tightened public health measures to avoid threats posed by a more communicable virus. .
It took Canada nine months to reach 10,000 COVID-19 deaths last November, but the figure doubled to 20,000 just two months later, in January 2021, a jump that occurred before enough vaccines were administered to make an impact. . The country surpassed 25,000 deaths from COVID-19 in May.
Since then, experts say vaccines have significantly reduced the number of people dying daily from the virus, with some estimates suggesting 75-90% fewer deaths in each age group, compared to what normally would be expected.
Public Health Director Dr. Theresa Tam said the arrival of the vaccines a year ago (Canada administered its first injections on December 14, 2020) resulted in a “dramatic change” in the epidemiology of COVID-19 in the country, with a particular drop in mortality. rates.
The trajectory “was drastically shortened after the vaccines went into effect and continues to stay at a lower level,” he told a news conference Monday.
Dr. Tara Moriarty, a researcher at the University of Toronto, estimates that vaccines “have probably saved more than 476,000 lives in Canada to date.”
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About 40 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in Canada have occurred since January, and Moriarty said the vast majority of those deaths in 2021 were among the unvaccinated.
He said the much faster spread of the Delta variant, which took off in Canada in the spring, contributed to more serious illness, particularly among those who are not immunized, adding that there may be more unreported deaths from undetected cases.
“There’s a lot more spread going on, people are more relaxed, a lot more people are exposed,” Moriarty said. “Cases are no longer a great indicator. Many cases go undetected.”
#Canada passes a grim milestone with more than 30,000 deaths from COVID-19. #CDNPoli # Covid19
As the more transmissible Omicron variant circulates more widely in Canada, experts hope that vaccination will continue to play an important role in keeping people out of hospitals and intensive care units.
The provinces have increased launches of the third dose amid the threat from Omicron, though scientists are still racing to find out how quickly the variant spreads, whether it causes more serious disease, and how much it could evade the vaccine’s protection.
Moriarty said the third doses will be “crucial” in boosting immunity that naturally wanes over time after the first two jabs.
“Even a 10 percent change (in protection) one way or another can have a huge impact on the spread of an epidemic,” he said. “We will have to wait and see the impact of (the third doses).
“But at this point, the threat of a really fast spread is so high that it’s really crucial that people get their boosters.”
Moriarty said that even if Omicron proves less severe than Delta, its growing circulation means the virus will find vulnerable people, including unvaccinated children and adults and immunosuppressed populations who have not built up enough protection against vaccines.
Nitin Mohan, an epidemiology and public health expert at Western University, agreed, adding that while the third doses should “decrease the number of hospitalizations and deaths that we are seeing,” the rate of spread with Omicron could make the things are more difficult to contain.
“We know that Omicron is very contagious … and that’s where the modeling numbers are pretty drastic,” he said.
“What we can expect in the coming weeks is that people who are not vaccinated will continue to dominate (the number of) those who contract the virus and end up in hospitals.
“And even if the disease is milder, the large number of people who will get Omicron infections can easily overwhelm healthcare systems.”
This Canadian Press report was first published on Thursday, December 16, 2021.
Reference-www.nationalobserver.com