Ontario’s chief medical officer, Dr. Kieran Moore, says he is a cautious optimist that the worst of the sixth wave of COVID-19 will end soon, as hospitalization is expected to peak next week.
Moore told CTV News on Friday that wastewater and limited PCR test positive data suggest the peak of the cases occurred on April 10, but the peak of hospital admissions is expected next week.
“This increase in hospitalizations naturally occurs after this maximum number of cases, and then the last part is the impact on intensive care units,” Moore said.
“We expect all this great impact to happen in the next seven to 10 days and then slowly and surely the risk will decrease by the end of May … I am a cautious optimist.
By June, Moore said he expected most cases to return to “very low endemic risk” in Ontario.
Health officials said Friday that Ontario hospitals have at least 1,591 patients with COVID-19 and 214 people in the intensive care unit.
The province also announced on Friday that it will extend its remaining mandate for a high-risk mask until June 11, as the province is coping in response to the sixth wave.
Experts said the sixth wave was caused by the lifting of restrictions and mandates on COVID-19 and the spread of the BA2 virus variant.
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