U.S. traffic poses biggest risk for Omicron variant: Hirji

There's little evidence" to suspect the new Omicron COVID-19 variant might be circulating in Niagara, even as two suspected cases were found in Hamilton, says the Region's acting medical officer of health.

But if it does show up here, the most likely source probably wouldn't be any of the 10 African countries singled out by the federal government for travel bans, said Dr. Mustafa Hirji.

More likely, it would come in from the United States.

The U.S. does not have the strong testing and genetic sequencing that we do in Ontario, so they are unable to know if the Omicron variant is already in the country and circulating," he said.

As well, with the extremely high incidence of infections in Niagara County and Erie County (just across the Niagara River), if the Omicron variant did arrive in the U.S., it would very quickly spread to many others."

The U.S. government said Tuesday it has detected no cases so far involving Omicron. The variant has been found in numerous other countries, including five confirmed cases in Canada.

Hirji said Niagara Region Public Health staff last weekend contacted residents who travelled to high-risk countries over the past few weeks, recommending they get tested.

Tuesday was the first day Canadian travellers returning home are no longer required to show proof of a negative PCR test at the border if they've been in the U.S. for less than 72 hours.

Canada added Nigeria, Malawi and Egypt to its temporary travel ban list that already included South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Eswatini and Namibia.

In Niagara on Tuesday, there were 19 new COVID-19 cases, which has been roughly the average daily count for the past two weeks.

So far, 75.6 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated.

Among children in the five to 11 age range, 1,548 have received their first vaccine dose since clinics opened to them last Friday. That represents just less than five per cent of the roughly 32,500 Niagara residents in that age group.

Niagara Health had 11 COVID-19 patients in hospital, including five fully vaccinated, five unvaccinated and one who had received one dose of vaccine.

Since Aug. 7, of the 106 COVID-19 patients admitted, it said 74 were unvaccinated and 30 were fully vaccinated.

There's still not much known about the Omicron variant, first reported earlier this month in South Africa, though the World Health Organization has labelled it a variant of concern.

While early reports suggest it is more transmissible than the Delta variant, scientists are still trying to confirm that. They're also examining its potential for causing severe illness and the effectiveness of vaccines against it.

While two suspected cases were identified in Hamilton this week, Hirji urged caution as the public health department there awaits genetic sequencing results.

As recently as a couple of weeks ago, Omicron variant was a minority of South Africa's cases with COVID-19 - there's a very good possibility two persons in Hamilton might not be infected" with it, Hirji said.

If they are, there's still no evidence the variant is circulating in the community, he said.

Public Health Ontario conducts genetic sequencing on every COVID-19 test sample, in a process that takes up to two weeks to produce results.

So as of two weeks ago, we can be very confident that there was no Omicron variant circulating locally. That gives us reassurance," Hirji said.

Until more is known about the variant, he has urged people to keep following practices to protect themselves - get vaccinated, wear a mask, maintain social distancing and be aware of good indoor air ventilation.

Refraining from travel to the U.S. is something I recommend we do to avoid COVID-19 infection and potential exposure to Omicron variant," he said.

Gord Howard is a St. Catharines-based reporter with the Standard. Reach him via email: gord.howard@niagaradailies.com