Over the weekend, Waterloo Public Health announced that there was a strong possibility that two COVID-19 outbreaks connected to hockey teams in the area are related to the Omicron variant.
In one case, a Hespeler Shamrocks team played in a tournament in London where there have been 11 cases related to the outbreak.
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In the other, a Cambridge Roadrunners team played a tournament in the Ajax-Markham area that has been linked to an outbreak of 20 cases.
On Saturday, Waterloo Public Health said it was following up with players from both teams, as well as their close contacts, to advise them to stay home and self-quarantine until test results are available.
The agency says it is awaiting the results of the full genomic sequencing, but it seems likely that these are clusters from Omicron.
Waterloo Public Health says that four cases related to Hespeler shamrocks and one related to Cambridge Roadrunners tested positive on a marker that increases the likelihood that it is the Omicron variant.
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“It is very likely that the new Omicron variant is already here in the Waterloo region, and we expect it to spread rapidly,” said Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, medical health officer.
“We know that the best defense against COVID-19 and the new variant of Omicron is to get vaccinated and follow public health precautions. At this time of greatest risk, we are also advising residents to reduce non-essential social contacts. “
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