‘Worst is over,’ doctor says but adds health-care system still struggling

According to infectious disease physician Dr. Alex Wong, it appears that the fourth wave of COVID-19 — the deadliest wave of the pandemic yet — is waning.

“All of the leading indicators like test positivity and so forth are coming down. The wastewater seems to have peaked around mid-October … at least the four places where we have wastewater analysis — that’s Regina, Saskatoon, P.A. and North Battleford,” Wong said.

Saskatchewan reported 157 deaths due to COVID-19 in October, the most out of any month during the pandemic.

While the key indicators have improved, Wong told the Greg Morgan Morning Show that the Delta variant has left the health-care system on the ropes.

Transferring more than 25 hospital patients to Ontario for care provided some “wiggle room” and helped reduce the demand for ICU capacity, Wong said. But he added the system is still under a lot of strain.

“So all things are pointing to the fact that the worst is over but the system is still struggling,” he said. “It’s going to take a long time for the system to recover.”

The infectious disease expert has been fielding questions from people on Twitter. One of the most common ones has been about why doctors are calling for an end to accepting negative COVID tests as a substitute for proof of vaccination to enter non-essential businesses.

Wong said proof of a negative test within 72 hours is simply not as good as proof of vaccination when it comes to preventing infections.

“It misses infection probably about 35, 40 per cent of the time,” he said.

The reason why proof of negative testing offers inferior protection is because an infectious person doesn’t necessarily show symptoms early on, Wong said. He added the 72-hour window still gives a COVID-positive person a chance to infect others.

“That does potentially put other people at risk, even if they are fully vaccinated,” Wong said.

As Health Canada reviews a submission from Pfizer to use its COVID vaccine in children, Wong is waiting in anticipation.

“At the end of the day, I think the data is clear. At this point, there is a clear individual level benefit and then obviously a clear societal level benefit as well,” Wong said, “which is why like you, I am going to line up my five-year-old son as soon as it becomes available and we’ll wait to get it done as fast as possible.”

While some might have concerns about potential side effects, Wong said the benefits outweigh the risks. This includes protection from the health problems that come with getting sick with COVID, like myocarditis and lingering symptoms.

“Myocarditis in young kids, again, I’m not trivializing it but at the same time, it is a relatively transient, non-life-threatening thing,” he said.

“Some of the complications from COVID include heart inflammation, myocarditis, that can put your kid at risk.”