172 COVID-19 cases reported in Waterloo region as people urged to 'dramatically reduce' social contacts

Waterloo region saw 172 new COVID-19 cases reported on Tuesday. The increase in the daily case count comes as the region's medical officer of health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang says people need to "dramatically reduce" their social contacts immediately. 

There were 883 active cases on the region's dashboard, which also reported 33 cases have been confirmed to have the Omicron variant.

There were 20 people listed as being in the region's three hospitals infectious with the virus. There were six people in the intensive care unit (ICU). The region noted people in ICU may no longer be infectious but do require ongoing care.

There were no new deaths reported Tuesday.

There were 135 cases reported on Monday.

Wang reminded residents they should continue to follow public health measures this holiday season to combat the spread of the Omicron variant.

"This is a time of uncertainty, and obviously it's not what we wanted to happen," Wang told CBC K-W's The Morning Edition. 

"There are things that we can do to best protect ourselves and those whom we love, and one is to reduce your social contacts. This is really important now as well as the holidays.

"Even, you know, if you are scheduled to get a third dose, then you have to do that. We as a community have to dramatically reduce our social contacts to give us more time for the vaccine boosters to take effect," Wang added.

Wang said based on what's known so far, Omicron spreads eight times faster than Delta. 

In light of the rate of spread, she said "a lot of people will become infected," and Omicron is also spreading among those who are vaccinated. 

"However, those who are vaccinated, even if it's just with two doses, are much better protected still against severe outcomes of infection than those who are still unvaccinated," Wang said. 

"So, having had two doses does still give you a significant amount of protection against severe outcomes. But because Omicron is so transmissible, even among those who are vaccinated, it will infect a lot of people, and so that's a concern, especially for the holiday season, as people gather."

LISTEN | Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang talks Omicron, holiday gatherings and what people in Waterloo region need to do right now to curb spread of COVID-19.