The number of active coronavirus cases in Canada has increased shortly before most schools resumed

Toronto-It may be a remarkable time for Canadians who spent the summer ignoring news about the new coronavirus.

In the last 2 weeks British columbia, Alberta And Manitoba All are setting or approaching new daily records for the maximum number of new COVID-19 cases reported in each state. Both on Saturday Ontario And Quebec Recorded their largest daily numbers in over a month.

In short, it informs all five of Canada’s most populous states that COVID-19 remains a threat, even though viral illness is the least likely to occur.

“The respiratory virus shouldn’t circulate at all in July and August. You shouldn’t see COVID without doing anything at all. But we do a lot , COVID is still watching,” Dr. Colin Furness said Sunday on the CTV News Channel, an epidemiologist for infection control.

“This gives the feeling that the pathogenicity of this virus is there, and it will come back hard.”

However, while records and significant increases may seem worrisome in their own right, experts warn that it is best not to overread the daily total “message in progress”. I will.

“It’s important to see the big picture, not to worry too much about short-term trends,” Dr. Matthew Outon, an infectious disease specialist at McGill University Health Center in Montreal, told CTV News Channel on Sunday. ..

Over 5,000 active cases

One way to get a big picture is to look at trends in the number of active COVID-19 cases. These numbers are less likely to fluctuate daily totals, as patients are often considered active for more than a week.

According to CTV News records, the total number of active cases in Canada reached 5,000 for the first time in about three weeks, with 367 COVID-19s reported across Canada on Saturday and a new record of 145 recovery cases. Exceeded.

However, it can be misleading to say that the number of active cases is at the highest level in a few weeks. Quebec sometimes made Main adjustment With almost 23,000 new recoveries announced on July 16

If these 23,000 cases were removed from the active case history data, Canada would not have more than 5,000 active cases between June and Saturday.

Dr. Sumon Chakrabarti, an infectious disease specialist based in Mississauga, Ontario, said Saturday’s CTV news channel was particularly concerned about the overall status of COVID-19 activity in Canada, especially as hospitalization levels were stable. He said he wasn’t watching.

“It has something to do with what we’re seeing there, but in an epic plan of things it’s still an overall low community infection,” he said.

However, when you classify numbers by state or region, it is clear that the situation is not exactly the same in different parts of the country.

Second wave in the west?

When measured in the active case, BC’s first wave of COVID-19 peaked on April 28, when authorities were aware. 717 patients in the state..

By June that number had fallen below 200. Stayed there until early July. However, at that time the number of active cases began to slowly increase-in the last three weeks, the increase was far from slow.

On August 10, BC passed 400 active cases. Two days later, it exceeded 500. Two days later, it exceeded 600.

By August 21, COVID-19 824 active cases In the state-more than ever. Still, that number continued to grow, reaching 1,014 on August 23rd.

British Columbia is one of two states, and there are currently more active cases of COVID-19 than at any time during the first wave of the pandemic.

The other is Manitoba, which initially surpassed just under 200 in early April. Two months later, the number of active cases dropped to an order of magnitude.

But recently, there has been a significant increase from July to August. Manitoba has not reported a reduction in the number of active cases since 19 August. As of Sunday, Number sat 462 – More than twice the spring peak.

Saskatchewan had a similar situation last month. The state reported twice more than 300 active cases of COVID-19 on consecutive days in late July. Since then, the number of cases has declined, with less than 100 active cases reported daily in the past week.

Although Alberta is reported to have the highest number of new cases per day since April, the number of active cases is well below the spring peak in the state.

Over the past four weeks, Alberta has had between 1,000 and 1,200 active cases. That’s much more than the state’s 328 active cases Bottoming June 5, but much less than the over 3,000 numbers tracked in late April and early May.

East and north stability

What’s happening in the west doesn’t seem to affect the situation of coronaviruses in central Canada, the Atlantic Canada and the region.

Ontario has been hitting some of the lowest cases since the first day of the pandemic, with Western states setting new records and increasing numbers of cases. On August 9, the state reported less than 1,000 active cases for the first time since March. After that, the number remained below 1,000 for 12 days.

However, there have been some escalations in the last two weeks. In Ontario on August 16, there were 904 active cases of COVID-19, 1,010 on August 23 and 1,181 on Sunday.

Québec’s number is a bit difficult to determine due to two major adjustments to the state’s recovery, but the load for active cases has fallen between 1,200 and 1,300 over the past week and a half It seems that

Much less in Canada’s Atlantic Ocean, and in the early summer all four states passed a single active case-free period, but the virus reappeared.

As of Sunday, there were 5 active cases of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia, 5 in New Brunswick, 3 in Prince Edward Island and 1 in Newfoundland and Labrador.

There are no active cases in any region. The last of all 20 known cases was reported in Yukon on 7 August.

Room back to school

Coronavirus activity is expected to increase in Canada as it drives Canadians indoors during the fall of summer, cold weather, and virus spread.

Fear We recognize that this is already underway in some parts of the country and can be exacerbated by the return of children to classrooms within two weeks at most schools.

Already in Quebec, about 20 teachers were later ordered to quarantine Two educators in one high school COVID-19 was positive. The test took place on the preparation day before the students were admitted.

Most of the French high schools in Quebec have resumed classroom instruction, but Oughton said that the spread of COVID-19 in schools was premature in the number of states.

Another concern is what happens when COVID-19 occurs. Overlapping the traditional winter flu season.. Since the illnesses caused by the two viruses are similarly present, the symptoms of the flu may be sufficient to order quarantine or to shut down the school in fear of an outbreak.

“I think there will be many false alarms,” ​​Oughton said.

Canadian Public Health Department Recent Report “Exceptionally low” amount of influenza activity But this summer brings some hope here. Data from countries in the Southern Hemisphere are similar, with the flu season already beginning and record low levels of flu being detected.

Taken together, these statistics show that distances and other measures taken to slow the spread of COVID-19 have the same effect on influenza-decreasing the rate of transmission of influenza and widespread ” Reduce the likelihood of “false alarms”.