Alberta highly vulnerable to most infectious COVID-19 version yet, says expert yyc abhealth COVID19AB
Kraken, or the XBB 1.5 version of the Omicron variant, is sweeping through the U.S. and has been detected in B.C., which means it’s likely now in Alberta, said Dr. Craig Jenne, an infectious disease and immunology professor at the University of Calgary.Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Calgary SUN, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.
And given Alberta has the lowest rate of vaccination among the provinces — 40.8 per cent have received a third dose and half of that a fourth — the province can expect a wave of infections, he said.“Almost everybody is now more than a year past their last vaccinations, which is a bit of a problem,” said Jenne.
That’s a bigger concern due to the more infectious nature of Kraken, which will likely quickly displace earlier forms of Omicron, he said. “It’s hard to estimate how much of a rise . . . even if it is only a small percentage of infected people needing hospital care, a large wave of infections will result in a potential strain on an already exhausted and stretched health-care system,” he said.The new variant is arriving just as the province and the rest of Canada grapples with a stubborn bout of COVID-19, the worst flu season since 2009 and RSV — a viral cocktail that’s stretched health-care systems to the limit.
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