Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Amid some encouraging signs, there is hope that the KFLA region could soon reach the plateau of the sixth wave of COVID-19.
That was among the messages conveyed when KFLA Public Health medical officer of health Dr. Piotr Oglaza spoke with local media Friday.
“While we are seeing progress in our community’s hard work to reduce the impact of COVID-19, the virus continues to spread in our region,” said Oglaza. “Our data shows that the overall per cent positivity in waste water concentration trends are hopefully stabilizing. It is too soon to confirm this and we will continue to monitor the trend and keep the community informed.”
Oglaza says at various times through January to now there have been times when numbers did stabilize and even decrease, however they’ve never been for a sustained period of time.
“While some indicators are plateauing, or we’re hoping that they will be plateauing as we see more data points, evidence still shows high levels of virus circulating in the community,” cautioned Oglaza. “This is important because this risk of infection and severe illness is more impactful and serious for some individuals, especially those who are immunocompromised, individuals with underlying health conditions or even by age alone, older individuals generally are more susceptible.”
Oglaza noted on Friday the KFLA region reported an additional death due to the virus, the 50th overall since the start of the pandemic. A total of 13 people remain in hospital due to the virus.
“We know that many of the deaths that are happening from COVID-19 are happening among the most vulnerable individuals,” noted Oglaza. “These individuals would have always been vulnerable to any kind of infection and that really emphasizes the need for us to be mindful of those around us who are in that position. Even if it’s not COVID-19, any other respiratory virus, influenza, common cold, which may not be too significant to someone who is otherwise healthy and younger, it could be pushing someone who is very frail to the brink of a very serious condition and sometimes sadly, death. That’s one aspect of the trend that we’re seeing, when (deaths are) happening they’re happening to people who are relatively frail and in very challenging health circumstances to begin with.”
Oglaza did add the numbers do show overall this wave is helping to limit the number of cases that do end up in hospital. He attributed that to the region’s high vaccine rate.
“Our KFLA region has the highest level of booster uptake in this province. We are approximately 10 per cent higher than the provincial average,” said Oglaza. “This high booster rate has helped limit severity and limit the number of cases in hospital and that’s a really significant message and encouragement for everyone to stay up to date with vaccine and get all the doses you’re eligible for.”
He noted that comparing the KFLA region to other health units is difficult given population sizes and age demographics, so instead they’ve focused more on looking at trends within their own numbers.
“Comparison between public health units are less meaningful as comparing our own trends,” said Oglaza. “In that sense we know that we have a very high level of disease activity in this region. That disease activity according to our indicators appears to be plateauing, hopefully with a few extra data points we’ll see a continued downward data trend and that’s the best way to describe that. Comparing ourselves to other health units might not give us a true picture of what the disease activity is in KFLA region compared to other jurisdictions.”
On the topic of gatherings, Oglaza indicated that outdoor meetings carry much less risk than indoor ones.
“As the weather warms up I’d like to remind the community that outdoor activities and outdoor gathers are generally safer than indoor gatherings and the weather is certainly helping us with moving some of these opportunities to meet with family and friends outdoors,” he added.