What Canadians can expect from COVID-19 this fall and winter
CBC
With the beginning of fall and a more transmissible strain of the coronavirus than last year's taking hold, Canadians may wonder about the outlook of the pandemic over the next few months.
Some epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists are expressing cautious optimism, hoping that greater immunity levels just may be able to contain the delta variant that causes COVID-19, and that many jurisdictions could see hospitalization rates coming down.
"I'm always optimistic, and here's why," said epidemiologist Raywat Deonandan, an associate professor at the University of Ottawa. "Pandemics have a beginning, middle and end. And where are we right now? Locally, I think we're near the end."
Others, however, like B.C. epidemiologist Caroline Colijn, suspect Canada is still heading into a "challenging fall" despite considerable progress, particularly with vaccinations.
"The delta variant is much more infectious than the COVID that we had around last fall and even last spring," she said.
As well, provinces such as Alberta and Saskatchewan are currently in crisis mode, as a spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations among the unvaccinated has overloaded their health-care systems.
"I have no idea how long the crisis will last," said Craig Jenne, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Calgary.
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