Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Some experts call the novel coronavirus delta variant "a wild card."
It’s fuelling a sharp spike in cases in parts of the U.K. -- as other strains drop.
“The delta variant has grown at the fastest rate of any of the other variants that have appeared,” said David Bauer of Britain’s Francis Crick Institute and the National Institute for Health Research.
“The number one reason why it falls into everyone's radar is simply the observation that it's a spreading really quickly.”
Growing evidence shows the delta variant is up to twice as transmissible as the original U.K. variant, B117, now named alpha.
And that has moved the delta strain -- which first emerged in India -- to the top of the list of concern for Harvard University scientist Bill Hanage as well.
“(Its) transmissibility is really worrying for the world, because it may be able to infect people before we're able to vaccinate them,” he said.
Hanage is a professor with Harvard’s Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, and among a growing number of scientists warily watching the effects of this variant, and monitoring the most recent Public Health England report.
The report concluded it may not only spread more quickly, but there could be an increased risk of serious illness.
“Hospitalizations were more likely for people infected with the delta variant. I want to emphasize this is early days,” said Hanage.
Both English and Scottish analyses continue to support the finding of “reduced vaccine effectiveness.”
That comes with a paper published in the Lancet that found that people vaccinated with Pfizer produced lower level of antibodies against the delta variant -- particularly if they only had one dose.
After a single dose of Pfizer-BioNTech, 79 per cent of people had a quantifiable neutralizing antibody response against the original strain, but this fell to 50 per cent for alpha variant, 32 per cent for delta variant.
“What we found was that the delta variant was less able to be neutralized by those antibodies. And that, in particular the levels of those antibodies dropped off depending on how old the person was,” said David Bauer.
“The issue is that we're starting from a much lower level against the delta variant, and therefore this becomes more concerning that you might have people who become vulnerable to getting infected.”
It raises the possibility of the need for more rapid delivery of a second shot, or even possibly a booster shot in the coming months.
All of the data from the U.K. has bearing here in Canada -- that’s because the delta variant is implicated in some cluster of cases in B.C. and an outbreak in a long-term care home. And also in Ontario -- where more cases of delta infections are being noted in Ontario.
“This is the next variant that will become dominant, most likely globally, or in many places in the world actually. And it's just a matter of time,” said Dr. Peter Juni, head of Ontario’s science advisory table.
What we see right now for the delta variant, it's flat, meaning only when we start to open up it will start to increase and start to grow with case counts going up. But what it also means is, ]with B117 declining, that its relative proportion will increase now over time and it's clear that the delta variant will eventually become the next dominating variant in the province.”
Fortunately, the U.K. data is also showing that 73 per cent of delta infections in Britain are being reported in unvaccinated people, and only 3.7 per cent in those fully vaccinated.
“That is the take-home message: we need to get people vaccinated,” said Bauer. “That, you know, having no vaccine is clearly the biggest risk factor, full stop.”
That’s fuel to closing the gap between first and second doses in Canada.
“We are absolutely in a position to avoid the fourth wave, we just need to be smart now with our vaccination rollout. And we should just be, you know, realistic with our reopening program: not too fast,” said Juni.
He also said that in some of Ontario’s COVID-19 hotspots – Peel Region and Waterloo Region – “as many people as possible” need to get second doses.
Dr. Lawrence Loh, the medical officer of health for Peel Region, said Wednesday at a press conference that delta cases are "quickly replacing" the alpha variant as the most prevalent form of the virus locally.
"The trends being observed are concerning," he told reporters.
With files from Ryan Flanagan
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that's expected to face legal challenges.
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
The U.S. Senate has passed US$95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.