With an 'Omicron tsunami' forecast for Ontario, people must limit non-essential contact: public health

Waterloo region's medical officer of health offered a bleak look at the days to come as "an Omicron tsunami" is expected to wash over the community and the province as a whole.

"Projections indicate that it will likely be our hardest wave to date," medical officer of health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang said during a COVID-19 briefing Friday. "This is a disheartening message to deliver any time and especially before the holiday season."

The increased transmissibility of the Omicron variant makes it crucial that each person get vaccinated and reduce non-essential contacts — a move that will limit the virus's ability to spread, Wang said. 

On Friday, Ontario reported 3,124 new cases of COVID-19, the most in more than seven months and a 115 per cent increase over the same time last week.

"Reduce your social contacts starting from today and into the holidays," Wang said. 

Severe consequences, like intensive care admissions and deaths, typically jump a few weeks after a new wave of cases arise. Wang said that swift action now will hopefully curb the spread of the infection and limit the number of people who experience severe illness.

To meet the need posed by the Omicron variant, the region's vaccine services director said public health will need to vaccinate 20,000 people a day.

"The most we've ever done is 10,000 a day — once in July," Vickie Murray said at the brefing. "It feels like an almost impossible task. But it's an impossible task that we're committed to doing our best to meet."

Murray said her team alone can't keep up with the demand for third-dose appointments, and so she strongly encouraged people to look for alternatives to public health's mass vaccination clinics for their third shots.

"We are fortunate to have many options in our region to get the vaccine. I encourage people who cannot find an open appointment at the regional booking system to connect with their family doctor or their local community pharmacy," Murray said.

The region says it will open up thousands of appointments for third doses, but Wang also suggested people get on pharmacy wait lists and take the first appointment they can get.

88 new COVID-19 cases

On Friday, public health reported 88 new COVID-19 cases in Waterloo region. There were no new deaths.

There were 598 active cases in the region.

There were also 17 people infectious with the virus in the region's three hospitals, a rise of five cases from Thursday. Hospitals also have five people in the intensive care unit.

People in the ICU may no longer be infectious with COVID-19 but require ongoing, specialized care.

23 outbreaks

There 23 active outbreaks in the region. One was at Lanark Heights long-term care home in Kitchener where there was 11 cases: six in staff members and five "non-staff" cases. There was also one death associated with this outbreak.

Twelve outbreaks were in schools: 

• A new outbreak declared at Tait Street Public School in Cambridge with two cases.
• Southridge Public School in Kitchener with 16 cases over multiple cohorts. The school is closed to in-person learning until the new year.
• St. Vincent De Paul Catholic Elementary School in Cambridge with nine cases over multiple cohorts.
• Saint John Paul II Catholic Elementary School in Kitchener with nine cases.
• Sir Adam Beck Public School in Baden with six cases over multiple cohorts.
• St. Augustine Catholic School in Cambridge with four cases.
• St. Mary's High School in Kitchener with four cases.
• Glencairn Public School in Kitchener with three cases.
• St. Louis Adult Learning and Continuing Education in Kitchener with two cases.
• St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Elementary School in Elmira with two cases.
• Monsignor Doyle Catholic Secondary School in Cambridge with two cases.
• St. Paul Catholic Elementary School in Kitchener with two cases.

The other 10 outbreaks were:

• Cambridge Roadrunners Girls Hockey Association with 26 cases.
• Hespeler Minor Hockey Association with 19 cases.
• Waterloo Minor Hockey Association with five cases.
• Two other hockey-related outbreaks: One with four cases and one with two cases.
• Two in offices: One with three cases, one with two cases.
• A retail store with four cases.
• Automobile sales and service workplace with four cases.
• A manufacturer with three cases.

The region's vaccine dashboard showed 75.6 per cent of all residents in Waterloo region have received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The dashboard does not show what percentage of residents have a third dose but it does break it down by ages.

It also showed 36.5 per cent of children aged five to 11 have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. It's been three weeks since the region started to administer the vaccine to this age group. Children aged four and under are not yet eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine.

75 cases announced in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph

There were 75 new cases announced Friday by Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph public health.

Dr. Matthew Tenenbaum, the associate medical officer of health with the area, said that the increasing caseload means that people need to scale down their holiday plans. 

"I think that before Omicron was on our radars, many people in our community were hoping for a more normal Christmas, a chance to gather, perhaps some larger groups or with more relaxed measures," Tenenbaum told CBC K-W's The Morning Edition.

"Our message is that unfortunately, this is not going to be the reality we live in this holiday season. This definitely sucks, but the key thing is that we need to [stick to] the measures we've been following over the course of the pandemic and not forget those basics." 

'Keep any gatherings small'

It's critical that families keep holiday gatherings "very, very small," Tenenbaum said. 

"This is not the time for a 50-person Christmas party, for example," he said. 

Additionally, he said people should make sure that everyone attending their Christmas gathering is feeling well and that no one's there who has a fever or other COVID-19 symptoms.