Horacio Bach: Latest News

COVID-19 cases are on the decline, but more and more Canadians are getting sick with the flu across the country, Canada’s top public health officer said Friday.“We’re seeing influenza activity increasing up to the seasonal threshold despite the opposite trends being expected this time of year,” Dr. Theresa Tam, the nation’s chief public health officer,told reporters during a federal COVID-19 update.Without many COVID-19 health mandates like masking in effect in most places across the country, cases of the flu have increased, according to Tam.“One of the things we’ve learned about the use of public health measures for COVID-19 in the past two years is that they were also effective in reducing the prevalence of other infectious diseases.

BA.2 subvariant of Omicron dominates the COVID-19 spread across Canada and globally, scientists are keeping a close eye on a new hybrid variant.The XE sub-lineage of Omicron, which was first detected in the U.K. in January, is what experts call a “recombinant virus.”A recombinant virus is a combination of genetic material from two or more different viruses — in this case, the original subvariant of Omicron (BA.1) and the more infectious BA.2.

COVID-19 free – or at least, have not tested positive for it.In Canada, nearly 3.5 million coronavirus cases have been reported, which is nine per cent of the total population — but what about the rest?Experts say due diligence with public health measures, the power of vaccination and a little luck have kept many COVID-19 free. COVID-19 will be with us for ‘foreseeable future’ PHAC says, warning of future waves “To not get COVID, you have to be careful, meticulously careful and also fortunate,” said Colin Furness, infection control epidemiologist and assistant professor at the University of Toronto.Your location and living arrangement can increase the likelihood of catching COVID-19, with studies showing that marginalized communities are at greater risk of infection.Genetic factors, that have not yet been identified, could also be playing a role with some people being simply impervious to COVID-19, said Furness.That can also explain why people have different reactions to the virus and experience varying symptoms.

COVID-19 wave, experts say, as cases and hospitalizations have started to creep back up again across the country.While average daily case counts have levelled off nationally, there continues to be regional variability across the country with several jurisdictions reporting increases, said Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer in her latest weekly update on Friday.

With signs of the COVID-19 Omicron wave having peaked in parts of the world, including Canada, scientists are keeping a close eye on a subvariant that is rapidly spreading in some countries.

COVID-19 should be prioritized for immunization with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine now that a national panel is not recommending it for seniors, two experts say.Caroline Colijn, a COVID-19 modeller and mathematician at Simon Fraser University, and Horacio Bach, an adjunct professor in the division of infectious diseases at the University of British Columbia, also say the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine could be better promoted by provincial health officials as a strong contender to the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.The National Advisory Committee on Immunization has recommended that the Oxford-AstraZeneca not be used for people 65 and over due to concern about limited data on how it will work in older populations, even after Health