Has Omicron peaked in Peterborough? Here are 4 reasons to be cautiously optimistic

If the COVID virus has taught us something it’s that we are able to’t depend on it to be predictable.

Numbers had been easing as final summer season wound down and other people had been making journey plans once more. There was extra consolation in get-togethers than any time within the earlier yr. However as fall rolled into winter, we discovered of the Omicron variant. 

So, will we dare be hopeful that perhaps this variant of the virus has already hit its crest within the Peterborough space? In case you’re an optimist, think about these information:

1.Throughout Peterborough Public Well being’s weekly situational replace final Thursday (Jan. 13), Medical Officer of Well being Dr. Thomas Piggott identified that energetic case numbers had really declined from the earlier week. He did level out that present situations imply vital underreporting of instances however the variety of instances per 100,000 folks – pegged final week at 418 – was additionally down from the earlier week.

2.Within the earlier week’s PPG situational replace, the variety of instances per 100,000 had peaked to 487 instances per 100,000 – the best it has reached because the begin of the pandemic.

3.For greater than a yr, the well being unit has been working with Trent College researchers to watch wastewater at numerous factors round Peterborough, they usually’re watching in Lakefield and Millbrook too. This information has proven that well being officers can predict localized COVID numbers with out having to attend on outcomes from nasal swabs or from these individuals who may solely suspect they've been contaminated. In different phrases, it doesn’t must depend on private testing outcomes to determine tendencies. It’s early however this information confirmed a lower in detected COVID in wastewater between Jan. 7 and Jan. 10 in all three testing areas. Newer information on this space is anticipated to be launched on Thursday. “The information that we'll be persevering with to observe within the coming weeks shall be useful in seeing, now that case counts should not clearly dependable, the will increase after which hopefully decreases as we get by means of this,” Piggott stated.

4.On a provincial stage, information launched final week confirmed that development in each day hospitalizations was slowing — it was doubling each seven days in early January however was solely doubling each 12.6 days as of Thursday. ICU stays had additionally seen a decline from the start of the month.