Adam Prudhomme
Editor
KFLA’s COVID-19 cases continue to rise but the number that really matters-hospitalizations related to the virus-continue to decline.
When examined together, the overall news comes out as positive, says KFLA Public Health medical officer of health Dr. Piotr Oglaza.
He spoke with local media on Friday to provide a community update.
“Currently in KFLA, our indicators that demonstrate the level of transmission happening in the community, such as waste water signal or per cent positivity, have been gradually rising over the past two months or so,” said Oglaza. “However the indicators that are showing the severity of illness on the population levels such as hospitalization rates, they continue to remain low.”
Those results are a stark contrast to earlier in the pandemic, when a spike in overall cases would translate to a higher level of hospitalizations, usually two to three weeks following the initial rise.
“Today when we look back at our indicators for community transmission from previous weeks, looking back two or three weeks ago, they were at an elevated level, we had 14 per cent positivity rate and waste water signal was increasing and we would therefor expect the indicators for severity would be higher and also increasing,” said Oglaza. “Fortunately this is not the case.”
As of Friday there are five people in local hospital due to COVID-19, three of which are in the ICU, one of which requires a ventilator.
“We have not seen the levels this low since November 2021,” Oglaza said of cases requiring hospitalization. “It is truly significant how severity of COVID-19 cases have declined to the point where our transmission trends and our severity indicators are going in the opposite directions. Those who are admitted into hospital are frequently there for a shorter stay and this is very likely to be because of the high rates of vaccination in the community as well as the lower severity of Omicron. This is all very reassuring news for our region. We are confident that our community is ready now to move towards living with COVID-19 by lifting the emergency restrictions.”
As masking mandates are set to lift across the province on Monday, Oglaza cautions that the virus is still present in the community. He says people will have different levels of comfort in the coming weeks.
“It is important that we respect each other during this period,” said Oglaza. “Please be mindful that there are members of our community who remain at a higher risk for a serious outcome and some people may choose to continue to wear a mask in places where they’re not required, as well businesses may choose to continue proof of vaccination or masking. Please be kind and respectful for the choices of others.”
As school resumes following March Break, Oglaza said he expects the hospitalizations will remain steady.
“It’s possible that the transmission might increase in the province as a result of lifting some of these measures,” said Oglaza. “However what we are seeing at the same time is the opposite trend with disease severity. Transmission is not likely to be resulting in severe COVID.”