COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations rising after three-month lull
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/07/2022 (1321 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
After a nearly three-month streak of lower case counts, Manitoba is seeing an uptick in COVID-19 activity.
The province released its latest COVID surveillance on Thursday, showing cases have nearly doubled since the start of July, and hospitalizations are rising. The update, covering July 3-9, shows during that week, there were 229 COVID-19 cases reported, compared with 125 cases the previous week.
Severe outcomes are also on the rise. In that same reporting week, 59 people were admitted to hospital with COVID-19 and seven people admitted to the ICU. The province reported 46 hospital admissions and seven ICU admissions the previous week.
Six deaths were also reported for that week, with two of them recorded this week. Four more from the previous week were also added to the weekly report. An average of 269 people tested for COVID-19 per day, with the province’s test positivity rate increasing from 11.5 per cent to 14.8 per cent.
In terms of vaccines, as of July 9, 83.1 per cent of Manitobans aged five and older have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with 55.3 per cent receiving at least one additional dose. As of Thursday, Health Canada approved Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for children ages six months to five years old.
“After a thorough and independent scientific review of the evidence, the department has determined that the vaccine is safe and effective at preventing COVID-19 in children between six months and five years of age,” the department said in a statement.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization gave provinces its approval to give the vaccine to children in that age group, adding children “may” be offered the vaccine.
While severe outcomes from COVID in children is rare, the committee said the number of children hospitalized for COVID-19 sharply increased when the omicron variant arrived and rapidly spread last winter.
“This authorization comes at a critical time in the pandemic as we progress through the seventh wave and though children are less likely to experience complications from COVID-19, they can still get very sick,” Dr. Supriya Sharma, Health Canada’s chief medical adviser, said during a news conference on Thursday.
Sharma explained the average monthly rate hospitalization of children due to COVID-19 increased from 1.4 per 100,000 children under five in 2020 and 2021, to 15.9 per 100,000 in the first three months of 2022.
» The Brandon Sun