The Omicron wave is waning KFL&A, slowly

Jeff Green | Feb 08, 2022

The Omicron wave has passed its peak in Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington. At a media briefing last week, Dr. Piotr Oglaza said that the COVID numbers “as well as data from waste water sampling, indicates that the KFL&A region now has the lowest rate of infection of any district in Ontario.

“We were the first to feel the effects of the Omicron wave, and that has helped us to be one of the first to see its peak. Also, KFL&A has one of the highest rates of booster shot uptake in the province, and we thank the community and our partners for that. That has helped us as well. We will have to see if the lifting of restrictions will have had an impact on our hospitalisation rate over the next few weeks.”

The wave has not completely subsided.

As of Monday, February 7, there were 12 people in hospital with COVID, 6 of whom are in the intensive care unit, and of those in intensive care, 4 were on ventilators. Over the previous weekend, 186 new high risk cases were confirmed, and the total number of high risk cases in the region to 378, still well into the old Red Zone for COVID activity.

While a report in the Toronto Star estimated that 4 million Ontarians had contracted the Omicron variant, which would translate to over 50,000 infections in KFL&A, Dr. Oglaza said that it is not easy to come up with estimates of how many cases of Omicron there have been in the region.

The vaccination rate in KFL&A continues to inch upwards. 91.8% of those 5 and over have now received at least one dose and 86.7% of those 5 and over have received at least two doses. Those 5-11 year olds who received their first dose in early December are now eligible for a second dose.

The rate of booster shots (among those 18 and over who are eligible) is now at 2/3 of the population (66.7%).

29 deaths in the region have been attributed to COVID. While that number has risen substantially since November, the Canadian average is still 6 times higher than it is in KFL&A and the United States average death rate is 19 times higher.

As the Omicron wave has slowed, media briefings with public health are being cut back to once every two weeks instead of the weekly briefings that have been happening since mid-October.