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New wave of variants: “it’s starting to take off”

Why are experts talking about a very strong third wave of COVID-19 approaching when all indicators of the pandemic seem encouraging?

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Fewer and fewer cases are reported daily, hospitalizations and deaths have been falling steadily over the past few weeks.

Nonetheless, according to Canada’s public health forecasts, even if health restrictions are maintained, cases are expected to skyrocket. If there is deconfinement, the situation could be even worse.

What should we think?

For Benoît Mâsse, full professor at the School of Public Health of the University of Montreal, the variant is only beginning to settle in the province, and the damage it could cause is not yet felt.

“The variant begins, and at some point, it will gain the upper hand and it will come back up,” explains Mr. Mâsse in an interview with 100% Nouvelles on the airwaves of LCN.

He considers that right now we have this false sense of going in the right direction, as two waves are underway, one of which is silent rising.

“We have the strain [vague] fall which is dying, and there we have a new wave with the variant, much more contagious, which begins. And you know, our experience in March when the first wave started, it started slowly. A wave always starts slowly, with 5 cases, 10 cases. In Quebec, there are about 250 suspected cases of variants, and here we see that it is starting to take off. Eventually, this wave will replace the strain we had this fall and it will explode, ”he explains to Julie Marcoux.

The expert considers that excessive attention should be paid to the spread of these variants, considered to be much more contagious.

“We must convince Quebeckers that in mid-April, we will have great benefits from vaccination, but we have eight weeks to go. These eight weeks, with a 9-day school break, you have to be excessively careful. The feeling we have that things are going well, it could not last. “

By the time the vaccination begins to do its work, there will still be a very, very critical period in the province, and elsewhere in Canada.

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