COVID-19 wastewater numbers could indicate another pandemic wave is forming in Saskatchewan.But how bad that wave becomes, a doctor said, depends on how the public responds — especially since the health-care system is already strained.“By seeing an increase happening right now, we will be tipping the health-care system into that strain level again,” epidemiologist and Saskatchewan Health Agency senior interim public health officer Dr.
Cory Neudorf told Global News. Feds say it’s ‘irresponsible’ to set date for ending COVID-19 vaccine mandates He was responding to the latest figures from the University of Saskatchewan COVID-19 wastewater monitoring team, which show larges increases of the overall amount of the virus in three cities.The results also show a significant percentage of the virus detected is from the more transmissible subvariant of Omicron known as BA.2.In Saskatoon, North Battleford and Prince Albert the amount of COVID-19 increased by 66.3 per cent, 93.2 per cent and 96.1 per cent over the previous week, respectively, according to the University of Saskatchewan’s Global Institute for Water Security.And BA.2 accounts for 34.1 per cent of the total amount of COVID-19 RNA in Saskatoon, for 49.4 per cent in North Battleford and 17.9 per cent in Prince Albert.John Giesy, who leads the COVID-19 wastewater tracking unit, said the amounts would likely keep increasing and he couldn’t be sure yet when they would decrease.“It seems to be related to releasing everybody from all of the restrictions,” he told Global News.A team from the University of Regina monitors the level of virus genetic material in that city.