They're calling it the summer wave now, or 3rd Omicron wave. Predicted to slowly keep building throughout July and peak in August, BA.5 and to lesser extent BA.4 taking over from BA.2
There are also rising concerns about whether hospitals can handle a rise in cases, as emergency rooms across the country are currently facing unprecedented wait times, with some even facing shutdowns.
“The health-care system took a real walloping during this pandemic, and it never fully recovered,” Dr. Christopher Labos, a Montreal-based epidemiologist and cardiologist, told CTV News Channel on Monday.
“You have staff shortages, you have people who are burned out, and you're starting to see emergency rooms being forced to close for weekends or evenings because of staff shortages. And all this is happening in the context of more and more patients getting sick and more and more patients ending up in the hospital,” he added.
“Things are not OK.”
Cases in Quebec are rising as well
https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/quebec-reports-jump-in-covid-19-cases-hospitalizations-as-province-adds-20-deaths-1.5974774
Quebec is reporting another jump in COVID-19 cases on Tuesday as the province records 20 more deaths and 147 additional hospitalizations in the last 24 hours.
https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/covid-19-outbreaks-lead-to-temporary-closure-of-at-least-3-quebec-sleepaway-camps-1.5974947
Parents were scrambling Tuesday to pick up their kids after three sleepaway camps in Quebec were forced to temporarily shut down because of COVID-19.
Most of the infections are among staff – and some were physically unable to work after getting COVID-19, said Raill. As isolating all staff members and implementing new precautions became more difficult, Camp Ouareau decided to temporarily close altogether. The camp is hoping to reopen by July 13.
The virus in some cases was detected too late due to some false negative results from rapid tests.
"The unfortunate part of this year is that there is no allotment for residential camps to use PCR tests. Last year, every single camper, CIT (counsellor-in-training), and staff member had to have a PCR test," said Raill, who said she hopes the Quebec camping association can provide the camp with proper testing equipment in the near future.
Limited testing, unreliable rapid tests, no more social distancing nor mask use, BA.5 will just keep gaining momentum.
