Residents are advised to get COVID boosters before the fall flu season
Posted Aug 21, 2023 06:49:14 PM.
Last Updated Aug 22, 2023 12:19:33 PM.
A “triple threat” of influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID-19 is expected this flu season as the months get colder.
Dr. Matthew Tenenbaum, an associate medical officer of health in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph, said there has been a steady increase in COVID cases and residents should get vaccinated as soon as they can.
“We have been fortunate that over the summer, that’s just now ending we have had relatively low COVID activity,” he said. “But we expect that as the winter months arrive, things will increase. Typically, with a lot of viruses we deal with, things do get worse in the fall and winter.”
The EG.5 strain, also known as the ‘Eris’ variant, is already dominate in the region’s wastewater. It is a sub variant of the Omicron strain, which took hold in the winter of 2022.
Zahid Butt, an assistant professor in the School of Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo, said there appears to be no evidence so far that the EG.5 strain causes more severe infection than the Omicron variant.
“It doesn’t seem to be more severe than the previous Omicron some variants,” said Butt. “In terms of symptoms, it has similar symptoms to what you have seen with with the other Omicron sub variants.”
In May, the WHO officially declared the COVID-19 virus was no longer a global emergency. As of Aug. 18, the Region of Waterloo COVID-19 summary found there have been 2,947 cases and 22 deaths.
