‘It’s not the same as it was in 2020 and 2021’: Why Ontario shouldn’t fear the new COVID-19 variant

Medical staff prepares Moderna coronavirus vaccine. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A new COVID-19 variant has made its way to Ontario but one infectious diseases expert says it will likely not trigger as many hospitalizations seen at the height of the pandemic.

The new variant, called BA.3.2., was first identified in South Africa on Nov. 22, 2024, before the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention’s traveller surveillance program detected it in the United States this past June.

The CDC detected BA.3.2. in at least 23 countries and Canada is among them. Between Jan. 18 and Feb. 14, Public Health Ontario identified 21 infections in the province from the new virus, according to its recent data published in April.

Speaking to CP24 Breakfast on Tuesday morning, infectious diseases expert Dr. Isaac Bogoch said Ontario is not likely to see another wave of hospitalizations like it did during the height of the pandemic.

He pointed to three factors for this: COVID-19 is a virus that circulates year-round, most people have been infected by the virus, and many people have now been vaccinated against COVID-19.

“We’re not seeing the virus for the first time and that’s why we’re not seeing at a population level the same significant, horrendous impact that it (had),” Bogoch said.

“Some people forget it was only a few years ago where a single virus completely overwhelmed healthcare systems.”

But that’s not to say COVID-19 is no longer a force to be reckoned with, Bogoch noted.

“It’s not the same as it was in 2020 and 2021, it’s going to impact older populations and immunocompromised populations and those with underlying health conditions far worse than everybody else,” Bogoch said.

“It’s not doing the same damage as it once did, that’s exclusively because our immune systems are not naïve.”

From March 22 to March 28, PHO said there was a 4.7 per cent positivity rate for COVID in general in Ontario with 393 lab-confirmed cases reported during that time. There were also just more than 150 reported hospital admissions for the virus and 20 outbreaks.

“There’s always someone admitted to hospital with this, sadly,” Bogoch said.

“But, it went from an infection where we had multiple COVID wards and multiple COVID units in the hospital to something where it’s just integrated into routine daily clinical care.”

With files from CTV News Toronto’s Phil Tsekouras