The Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants are spreading rapidly around the world, and the province confirms that both have been detected in Manitoba.
Provincial data suggests COVID-19 transmission is trending down, but University of Saskatchewan epidemiologist Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine said that will likely change before September.
The province says both strains have turned up in Winnipeg sewage, with BA.5 accounting for about 10 percent of samples sequenced.
“The province aims to sample at least 10 percent or at least 100 samples per week,” a spokesman said in an emailed statement.
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These highly evolved variants of concern are six to eight times more contagious than the original SARS-CoV-2 virus, Muhajarine told Global News on Wednesday.
“He has a lot of tricks up his sleeve to disguise and evade immunity, whether it’s created or acquired by vaccinations or by having the infection, having COVID-19,” Muhajarine said.
He warned that being vaccinated probably wouldn’t prevent people from becoming infected, but it is still being shown to prevent serious outcomes.
Those who were infected with Omicron BA.1, the strain that was circulating around Christmas, will likely not be protected against these newer strains, Muhajarine said.
“People are getting reinfected over and over again, and those reinfections seem to be happening pretty close to each other.”
In general, BA.4 and BA.5 cause milder symptoms, but because they’re so transmissible, more people could end up in the hospital, he said.
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In general, he encouraged the use of masks in crowded spaces and indoors, especially for the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.
“We need to be talking and thinking and preparing and doing things that, you know, are going to keep us safe from ending up in the hospital, you know, in the ICU or dying of COVID 19 sooner rather than later this summer.”
He said he hopes provinces will decide not only to expand booster eligibility to the general public, but also to resume more widespread testing.
Provincial officials are keeping an eye on the situation but are not making changes to public health advice at this time, the provincial spokesman said.
