Ontario has entered the sixth COVID-19 wave, doctors say
After more than two years fighting COVID-19, some medical experts in Ontario say the province has entered a sixth wave.
"There are more cases now than there were a week ago and two weeks ago," infectious disease expert Dr. Isaac Bogoch said Tuesday.
"We can call this a wave. We just don't know the size of the wave. But it's here."
Bogoch said Ontario should "watch the hospitalizations closely" over the next few weeks.
"We'll probably start to see early signs of hospitalizations rise in the coming week or two ahead," he said.
With access to PCR testing limited, the exact number of Ontarians infected with COVID-19 remains elusive. Using viral signals in wastewater, the province’s science advisory table puts the doubling rate at every 9.6 days.
Ontario health officials are reporting 790 people in hospital with COVID-19 on Tuesday, including 165 patients in intensive care.
Tuesday's hospitalizations mark a considerable increase over the 655 reported on Monday and the 553 reported on Sunday, although not all hospitals report patient data over the weekends.
The rise in hospitalizations is worrying to the CEO of the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario.
"If we are not careful, people that are waiting for surgeries and procedures will again be postponed because we don't have enough human resources in the system," Doris Grinspun said Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health says the province has the tools to handle the impact of COVID-19.
“The latest modelling shows that our hospitals and health system can manage any of the projected scenarios, while not compromising our ability to continue addressing the surgical backlog caused by the pandemic,” Bill Campbell writes in a statement.
Campbell stresses that Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore expected key indicators to rise as restrictions lift and people spend more time together.
"Dr. Moore said this was going to happen … this doesn't come to anyone's surprise," Bogoch said.
While cases and hospitilizations are going up, Bogoch said he thinks Ontario should "never see businesses or schools ever shuttered again."
"I really don’t think that would be appropriate at all, and I hope to never see that ever again," he said.
With files from CTV News Toronto's Sean Davidson
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.