That's not typically something that is seen with other circulating viruses like influenza, said Kelvin, meaning the unpredictability of this virus leaves its future an open question. If they will be more severe or a variant of concern is another question," said Kelvin. "But it is an interesting trend that … there seems to be an increase in transmissibility with each as time goes on and we see new variants."Īnalysis Why the delta variant means some Canadians now more 'at risk' from COVID-19 than ever before One unknown threat Canada faces is the possibility of more transmissible variants emerging in the weeks and months ahead that could be worse than delta, as COVID-19 continues to ravage undervaccinated countries around the world.Ĭanada was hit hard by the alpha variant at a time when our vaccination campaign had not yet picked up steam, and new and more dangerous variants have repeatedly appeared in countries that continue to be hit hard with each passing wave. "That's something that we need to be watching going forward." Future variants pose unknown threat "Children can't be vaccinated and variants such as delta are more highly transmissible - and there seems to be case reports of increased disease severity in kids when they do get infected," she said. Until children under 12 are eligible for vaccination in Canada, Kelvin says those who have less effective immune responses from COVID-19 vaccines - including older Canadians and the immunocompromised - will continue to be vulnerable. Wearing masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19, elementary school students walk to classes in Godley, Texas, on Aug. But those bumps are hopefully just that - tiny hills, and not mountains like the earlier waves." "Probably similar to last year, as we head into the fall and the cold weather arrives. "We're going to see rises in case counts at some point again," said Matthew Miller, an associate professor of infectious diseases and immunology at McMaster University in Hamilton. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can do that by clicking here.Ĭanada will likely face a fourth wave of the pandemic as the highly contagious delta variant continues to spread ahead of borders and schools reopening, but there's growing optimism another surge won't bring the country back to a crisis point.Ĭanadian immunologists, virologists and infectious disease specialists say we could fare better than in previous waves, with a lower rate of serious infections, due to the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and the willingness of Canadians to get vaccinated.īut our rollout is plateauing and there are still huge swaths of the population that are unvaccinated - either by choice or due to a lack of access or eligibility - including millions of Canadian kids who are heading back to school in just over a month. This is an excerpt from Second Opinion, a weekly roundup of health and medical science news emailed to subscribers every Saturday morning.
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