Yep, there are some ups and downs but overall no more big outbreaks.
Also at home things are looking up, no full recovery yet but getting better every week.

It's still good to stay careful though:

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/as-omicron-subvariants-take-hold-experts-say-canada-could-see-rise-in-covid-19-cases-1.5953017

As the summer approaches and COVID-19 health measures continue to loosen, experts say the rise of subvariants of Omicron could lead to another spike in cases in Canada.

The subvariants of BA.4 and BA.5 have been fueling growing case counts in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere around the world. In Canada, the two variants made up 3.9 per cent and 6.5 per cent of COVID-19 cases, respectively, according to samples collected the week of May 29. Cases of BA.2.12.1, another growing subvariant, also represent 40.5 per cent of cases.

At a media briefing on Friday, Canada's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Theresa Tam noted the growth of these subvariants, saying that they have "demonstrated a growth advantage in additional immune escape" over previous variants, citing waning vaccine immunity and viral evolution.


They already want to get rid of the term 'fully vaccinated' here since it's quickly losing meaning. It seems Covid vaccines will become like the yearly flu shot. Maybe they can combine the two?

Weekly update, cases increasing further in Europe


In total 4.5 million new cases were reported last week (up from 3.89 million) to a total of 548,168,839
Also another 9,927 more deaths were reported (slightly up from 9,610) to a total of 6,349,314

Europe is driving the rise in reported cases, 1.95 million new cases (1.30 million last week) and 2,945 more deaths (2,674 last week)
USA is staying on the level, 740K new cases (723K last week) and 2,376 more deaths (2,590 last week)

The continents

Apart from Asia, cases are creeping back up everywhere.

Corners of the world

Canada reported 16.4K new cases (up from 13.4K) and 142 deaths (206 last week)
Ontario switched to reporting once a week, hence the big wobble in the graph.
India is still climbing, but less than last week.

Europe in detail

General upwards trend despite spotty testing / reporting. Germany, France and Italy lead the pack.

The pandemic might be far from over, however people can't wait to get back to traveling. Long lines at the passport offices here, people queuing up from 1:30 AM and other people offering to stand in line for you for a fee. Just to get into the chaos at the airports....
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-passport-delays-unacceptable-1.6497417
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-pearson-airport-delays-1.6481605

It's definitely the end of social distancing :/ Tourism has started back up locally as well.
https://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/news/local-news/memory-lane-market-coming-to-downtown-paris
A two-day outdoor market will take over downtown Paris later this month. (This weekend)
Chaos here as well, I'm staying away from downtown. It's very busy on the river as well, lots of rafts, canoes and paddle boards.

Yesterday we even had a motor boat and jet skis dicking around behind our house, bouncing off the rocks. Highly dangerous and illegal. One kid crashed his jet ski and they were trying to figure out what was wrong with it while holding it sideways in the river. It's a protected natural area and our drinking water comes from the river. Absolutely no gas or oil spills. It's hot, people become bigger idiots as the temperature rises.

Weekly update, cases are rising across the board, Omicron sub-variant BA.4 and BA.5 are taking over.

In total 5.43 million new cases were reported last week (up from 4.55 million) to a total of 553,599,815
Also another 10,638 more deaths were reported (up from 9,927) to a total of 6,359,997

Europe keeps on rising 2.63 million new cases this week (1.95 million last week) and 3,257 more deaths (2,945 last week)
USA also rising but far slower 798K new cases this week (740K last week) and 2,640 more deaths (2,376 last week)

The continents

Europe is driving the pandemic again, only Africa declined a little this week.

Corners of the world

South Africa still heading down, Iran heading back up. The rest slowly creeping up.
Canada reported 19.5K new cases (up from 16.4K) and 145 deaths (142 last week)

Europe in detail

France, Germany and Italy leading the charge, a general increase across the board.



https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/omicron-cousin-ba-5-predicted-to-cause-nearly-70-per-cent-of-covid-19-cases-by-canada-day-1.5969703

Researchers examining the threat of emerging COVID-19 strains predict Omicron BA.5 will account for nearly 70 per cent of cases by Canada Day.
(Canada day was yesterday, July 1st)

"The last sequence data was mid-June but the projections for July 1 would be: roughly 13 per cent (of cases are) BA.4, and 69 per cent BA.5," said Otto, co-lead of the computational biology and modelling arm of the network, also known as CoVaRR-Net.

Otto noted that BA.4 and BA.5 appear to primarily infect the upper airways -- versus the lower lungs -- leading to less severe cases on average than pre-Omicron variants.

"My prediction is that the cases are going to go up, hospitalizations are going to go up, but my current hope is that it won't be as bad as the BA.2 wave," she said, adding there was not enough data yet to know for certain.

At the pace BA.5 has been growing, she said BA.5 is now about five times more common in Canada than BA.4. "Pretty soon, it will just be the BA.5 wave," said Otto, also a member of B.C.'s COVID-19 modelling group, and an external modelling group of the Public Health Agency of Canada.

While Canadians have higher immunity than ever before, this new subvariant is radically different than what came before, said Razak, making reinfection more likely. "It's mutated enough that even if you got infected with the original Omicron wave that just came through in the spring, the virus surface looks sufficiently different that your immune system doesn't recognize it, and another infection is happening again."

Most fully vaccinated people infected by BA.5 experience a mild bout of COVID-19, Razak said, but high-risk groups including immunocompromised individuals and the elderly are still at greater risk of falling severely ill.

My wife is still not fully over Covid-19 (likely BA.2) and now we have BA.5 coming up everywhere. Her oxygen level still goes down to 90% and no hearing in the left ear after a lot of ringing while the disease was at its height.

https://www.healthyhearing.com/report/53127-Coronavirus-hearing-loss-tinnitus-covid

What does appear to be a little more common (though still rare) is developing hearing loss, tinnitus or dizziness later in the infection process, meaning these issues are not part of the initial onset of symptoms but develop days to weeks later. 

A February 2021 systematic review that pooled together data on auditory complications estimated that:

• 7.6% of people report hearing loss
• 14.8% report tinnitus
• 7.2% report vertigo

However, the researchers emphasize that there is a lack of "high-quality studies" on this topic. A large comprehensive research effort is needed.

Hopefully it's not permanent. First time she (likely) got infected in Februari 2020 it took until the end of the year to get her taste and sense of smell back to normal. That's much less affected this time, but the hearing loss is new :(



https://london.ctvnews.ca/ontario-researchers-say-they-ve-found-what-causes-long-covid-symptoms-1.5966717

The use of MRI technology — combined with inhaled xenon gas — allowed researchers to see that long-COVID symptoms are related to the microscopic abnormalities that affect how oxygen is exchanged from the lungs to the red blood cells.

The results of the study were published in the journal Radiology and reveal a potential cause for long-COVID symptoms.

Long COVID is characterized by the feeling of brain fog, breathlessness, fatigue and limited capacity to do normal day-to-day things. The symptoms can last weeks or months following initial infection.

That all applies :/

Three weeks ago. One day after I came back from my US vacation.

What is your blood type?

What is your blood type?

I am curious if the trend of blood type is true. I have probably never had covid, or at least I don't have any long term symptoms. 2 times that I got really sick since Covid began.

Is that a new trend with Omicron? In 2020 studies did not find a correlation with severity but did notice a correlation with detection.

https://hms.harvard.edu/magazine/skin/covid-19-severity-not-linked-blood-type

Blood type is not associated with a severe worsening of symptoms in people who have tested positive for COVID-19, according to HMS researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital. Although the findings dispel previous reports suggesting that a certain ABO blood type could lead to increased disease severity, they did indicate that symptomatic individuals with blood types B and AB who are Rh+ are more likely to test positive for COVID-19 than people with other blood types. Symptomatic people with blood type O are less likely to test positive.

The bold part is basically what I am talking about. Even showing symptoms, still not testing positive. Severity is one thing but also long covid needs to be researched too in that regard.

It was relatively mild, yeah. I got vaxxed 4 times already though, so I would've been pissed if it was more severe.

Today I was the only one wearing a mask in the supermarket. Soap dispensers are empty, no more cleaning supplies for the carts. The plexiglass at the counters is still up as well as a few social distancing signs but that's it now. Not that anyone social distances anymore.

All the talk is about the summer of recovery
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/summer-of-recovery-pandemic-stricken-tourism-industry-sees-signs-of-optimism-1.5971016

Canada Day has kicked off the unofficial start of summer, and the tourism sector is hopeful the first season in three years largely free of COVID-19 restrictions will marshal a much-needed boost for a pandemic-stricken industry.


That while BA.5 is spreading faster. Since Ontario started reporting once a week, cases have gone up 135% week over week.
Hospitalizations are going up as well:
https://www.cp24.com/news/ontario-reports-week-over-week-uptick-in-covid-hospitalizations-for-first-time-since-may-1.5970137

The latest data from the Ministry of Health suggests that there are now 585 people in Ontario hospitals testing positive for the virus, up from 486 at this time last week.

It is just one of several public health indicators that appear to be headed in the wrong direction after a sustained decline in viral activity through most of the spring. The positivity rate on PCR tests was also up over the last week, with the seven-day average going from 7.64 on June 23 to 9.82 as of today.

Meanwhile, the seven-day average for new cases detected through PCR testing was up 34 per cent week-over-week to 916. Experts, however, caution that the true number of infections is likely up to 10 times the PCR number due to limited eligibility for testing.


Not as bad as in France yet which is thinking about making masks mandatory again
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/with-hospitalizations-up-france-weighs-return-to-masks-1.5971678

Tourism is booming again in France -- and so is COVID-19. French officials have "invited" or "recommended" people to go back to using face masks but stopped short of renewing restrictions that would scare visitors away or revive antigovernment protests.

Virus-related hospitalizations rose quickly in France over the past two weeks, with nearly 1,000 patients with COVID-19 hospitalized per day, according to government data. Infections are also rising across Europe and the United States, but France has an exceptionally high proportion of people in the hospital, according to Our World in Data estimates.


Yep, this way it will never end
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/physician-expects-new-covid-19-variants-every-few-months-whole-world-is-a-petri-dish-1.5970123

An emergency room physician in Toronto is warning that COVID-19 variants will continue to "mutate endlessly" as the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are poised to become the dominant strains of the virus.

"The whole world's a petri dish," Dr. Kashif Pirzada told CTV News Channel on Thursday. "We're going to have these waves every two to three months."

^ small side note, French hospital data is defective in Our World In Data. Discharges are not updated as often as admissions, so since mid-2020 the data always make it seem that there are much more people hospitalized than it should looking at admissions and neighboring nations.