'COVID-19 continues to be with us': Waterloo Region shifting pandemic response as restrictions lift
Officials in Waterloo Region held their final scheduled COVID-19 update on Friday as the area shifts its response to the pandemic.
The area’s medical officer of health, Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, said the region is transitioning to a new way of managing COVID-19, but it doesn’t mean the pandemic is over.
“COVID-19 continues to be with us and will likely present future challenges,” Dr. Wang said Friday. “We can help our community heal and better weather future challenges by continuing to work together as we have to date.”
Regional officials have held regular COVID-19 updates for about two years. Dr. Wang said they may hold briefings in the future, if needed.
Starting Monday, nearly all COVID-19 restrictions in the province will lift, including mask mandates in most indoor settings. Masks will still be required in health-care settings, long-term care homes and on public transit.
Dr. Wang encouraged people to stay up-to-date on vaccines, stay home when sick, optimizing indoor ventilation and wearing masks in high-risk settings.
“I also recommend, as we transition from the winter respiratory season to spring and summer, that we ease our personal protective measures and resume our activities in a gradual manner,” Dr. Wang said.
COVID-19 indicators are much lower than they were at the peak of the Omicron wave, Dr. Wang said, but they have started to plateau.
“Omicron continues to circulate,” Dr. Wang said.
She added there may be intermittent COVID-19 waves in the future, but said residents and health-care settings now have more tools and knowledge about how to handle these waves.
Outbreaks in high-risk settings are considered low and stable.
Wastewater data up until March 13 shows the BA.1 subvariant of COVID-19 is still the primary subvariant in Waterloo Region, with a moderate amount of BA.2. Provincial health officials have said the more-transmissible BA.2 subvariant could soon be the dominant variant in Ontario. The Ontario Science Table released modelling data on Thursday, saying hospitalizations and other indicators will likely rise over the next few weeks as restrictions lift.
COVID-19 risk depends on the number of close contacts, vaccination status, and potential spread of the BA.2 subvariant, Dr. Wang said.
Residents are encouraged to get a booster shot even if they have already been infected with COVID-19.
The region has organized vaccine clinics at local schools to encourage vaccination in youth.
The mobile vaccine bus will also return in April, bringing vaccines to community members to increase accessibility.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Pilot reported fire onboard plane carrying fuel, attempted to return to Fairbanks just before crash
One of the two pilots aboard an airplane carrying fuel reported there was a fire on the airplane shortly before it crashed and burned outside Fairbanks, killing both people on board, a federal aviation official said Wednesday.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
7 surveillance videos linked to extortions of South Asian home builders in Edmonton released
The Edmonton Police Service has released a number of surveillance videos related to a series of extortion cases in the city now dubbed 'Project Gaslight.'