January could have been 'much worse,' but health officials learned these lessons from Omicron surge

Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang can envision a January that went much, much worse than the one Waterloo region experienced.

She can picture more COVID-19 infections, more people in hospitals sick with the virus, more deaths.

But the region's medical officer of health says high vaccination rates in the region, plus people following public health guidance to wear masks and limit social gatherings, helped save lives this month.

"I am just very grateful to our community for stepping up and getting their third dose and also working together," she said during Friday's media briefing.

"It would've been much worse if we had lower rates of vaccination in our community."

More than 12,000 cases

In late November, people were getting ready to celebrate the holidays and making plans to attend New Year's Eve parties. 

But that changed abruptly in December as COVID-19 cases started to rise dramatically due to the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant.. By the end of the month, there had been 5,213 cases reported in Waterloo region.

Then came January.

Pandemic restrictions were put back in place. Students moved to remote learning for the first two weeks of the year. Hospitalizations started to rise.

On Monday, Region of Waterloo Public Health reported 392 new cases had been reported since Friday. Broken down by day there were:

• 204 cases reported Saturday.
• 107 cases reported Sunday.
• 81 cases reported Monday.

That meant there were 12,357 COVID-19 cases reported this month alone. It accounts for more than 32 per cent of all the cases reported in Waterloo region since the pandemic began in March 2020.

It also represents only a fraction of the actual number of cases that have circulated in the community, because for the past few weeks, not everyone has been eligible to be tested for the virus.

It has not, however, been the month with the most COVID-19-related deaths reported. That was April 2020 when 74 deaths were reported.

On Monday, the region reported 11 COVID-19-related deaths. That brought the total number in January to 40.

Public health listed the individuals whose deaths were reported Monday as:

• One woman in her 100s.
• Three women and one man in their 90s.
• One woman and one man in their 80s.
• Two men in their 70s.
• Two men in their 60s.

There are 122 people in hospital, with COVID-19; 20 of them are being treated in hospital intensive care units. 

As well, 70 active outbreaks were reported Monday: 32 in long-term care and retirement homes, 25 in congregate settings and 13 in hospitals.

Need to change quickly

Vickie Murray, who oversees the region's vaccine task force, remembers in December her team was planning a slow roll out of third doses over the winter months.

"We just threw that right out the window," she said.

They had to make quick changes to ensure third doses could get into arms as quickly as possible.

She said January really showed her to be ready for anything.

"Even when we think we see a vision ahead, it could change in a moment and we need to continue to be able to adjust," she said. "But we've proven that we can and we've proven that we do it together."

As of Monday's update, the region's vaccination dashboard showed 78.8 per cent of all residents have two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Vaccine impact 'cannot be overemphasized'

Dr. Sharon Bal is a family physician in Cambridge who is also the primary care physician lead for Waterloo region's vaccine task force.

Bal said the most shocking part of the last month has been the number of emails and patient visits she's had with people who were COVID-19-positive.

"There's no word except staggering."

She said it speaks to how "devastating" it would have been had the region seen such a high volume of cases during the first, second or even third wave.

"That piece about how protected our community is because of vaccination cannot be overemphasized. We never would have been able to withstand the assault of something like Omicron previously."

Wang said she's not sure what February will bring, although she noted on Friday that early signs are showing infections appear to be on the decline in the region.

But, she said, if Omicron and the latest wave of the pandemic taught people anything, it's that no one can predict what will happen.

"So we have to keep building on measures like vaccination that we know will help us regardless of what comes our way," Wang said. 

"We just have to continue to be humble in the face of this virus, but also remember that our collective actions and all the actions we've taken to date, they accounted for a lot."