Page 2 - Daniel Gregson News Today

Infectious disease experts often look at trends in the southern hemisphere to predict what the Canadian influenza season will be like, and so far, Australia is being hit hard.

The final public health measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 will be lifted as of midnight Tuesday, and some businesses leaders and union reps offered mixed feelings about what it means for Albertas pandemic recovery.

Doctors and scientists are cautioning Alberta will likely have to reinstate public health measures, the last of which were lifted this week, in the face of future COVID-19 waves.

More than two years into the pandemic, Dr. Neeja Bakshi is still routinely breaking the painful news to families that their loved one is dying of COVID-19. And it's not going anywhere, she warns: Alberta's COVID-related death toll so far in 2022 is higher than the same period in previous years of the pandemic.

For now Alberta is not moving to expand eligibility for a second COVID vaccine booster, despite changes in other jurisdictions.

As of April 30, the province had reported 1,023 cases of the flu and 133 hospitalizations.

With the highly transmissible Omicron subvariant now dominant in Alberta, there are questions about what COVID-19 treatment will be effective for treating high-risk Albertans, particularly if the province is thrust into another wave.

A more transmissible Omicron subvariant, known as BA.2, is eating up a larger proportion of the province's COVID-19 cases, and experts are worried this could jeopardize Alberta's downward trend in case counts and hospitalizations.

Alberta Health has confirmed that a sub variant of Omicron has been detected in the province, but its unclear exactly where those cases were identified.

As concerns about Omicron mount, and with schools expected to reopen on Monday, some Alberta parents are opting to get their younger children a second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine earlier than officially recommended.