As COVID-19 variants take over in Ottawa, CHEO researcher says ‘this is essentially a new disease’
Posted Apr 5, 2021 04:56:00 PM.
A leading researcher at CHEO says the risk of an Ottawa resident being infected with a COVID-19 variant is five times higher than it was with the original strain of the virus.
“We're certainly in a wave right now and not even at the top yet,” Dr. Tyson Graber tells CityNews' The Rob Snow Show, Monday, April 5.
Dr. Graber has been analyzing Ottawa's wastewater for the past year, to evaluate COVID-19 levels and determine when residents can expect to see rises in community transmission.
He explains, the latest round of wastewater testing has signaled that the COVID UK variant has landed in the city and has the potential to wreak havoc quickly because it's so easily transmissible.
“Cases [of COVID-19] are shooting up quite quickly and those cases are also UK variant, so this is essentially a new disease,” says the doctor.
On the clinical side of things, Dr. Graber adds that a greater number of people contracting the variant seem to be ending up in hospital as it's hitting residents harder than the original COVID-19 strain.
