Alberta doctors and health experts worry about Omicron-fuelled 5th wave
CTV
As wastewater analysis indicates Alberta is entering the start of an Omicron wave, experts want the province to release modelling and plans to ensure the health care system can deal with staffing pressures.
As wastewater analysis indicates Alberta is entering the start of an Omicron wave, experts want the province to release modelling and plans to ensure the health care system can deal with staffing pressures.
Casey Hubert, Campus Alberta Innovates Program chair in geomicrobiology, said wastewater testing confirms the province is entering the fifth wave of the pandemic in several municipalities, including Edmonton, Calgary, Fort Saskatchewan, Drumheller, and Lethbridge.
"In some communities, we are seeing levels of COVID-19 in the wastewater that are twice as high as anything we've seen in the past," Hubert added. "The trend is going up and up and up."
Alberta's next full data update is scheduled for Jan. 4. The last data update, given on Dec. 30, set a new reported case record of 4,000 infections.
Case counts provided by the province can no longer be relied upon to present an accurate picture of COVID infections as only select groups are eligible for PCR testing, and most Albertans are being asked to self-test at home, with no structure for reporting those results.
At that time, there were 371 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 48 patients in intensive care units.
Hubert, the co-lead for Alberta's COVID-19 wastewater monitoring project, explained that data gleaned from wastewater analysis has proven to match up with COVID-19 case counts announced by the province with a one-week delay.
