Saturday September 2, 2023 | VICTORIA, BC [Updated 12 noon]
Health Issue Analysis by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc. | Island Social Trends | COVID NEWS ARCHIVE
BC Health announced this week that the first case of the BA.2.86 variant of the COVID-19 (i.e. SARS-CoV-2) virus was found in a person who had not travelled out of the province. It’s the first case of a person infected with the BA.2.86 variant of Omicron.
BC provincial health officer Dr Bonnie Henry together with BC Health Minister Adrian Dix on August 29 issued a statement regarding the BA.2.86 variant being detected by the BC Centre for Disease Control.
Since then many experts have weighed in saying that detection, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID infections has not changed. Some people may still differ in how they believe any of the COVID strains are transmitted — whether droplets or airborne or both.
This one infection not severe:
Dr Henry said in the provincial statement that “so far there does not seem to be increased severity with this strain of COVID and the individual is not hospitalized”.
Of course, this is just one case and any person who gets a COVID infection will have their own level of response to infection (depending on such factors as pre-existing health status).
First detected in Denmark, also seen in USA:
BC will continue to monitor data on this new variant which has been detected around the world, including in the United States. BA.2.86 was first detected in Denmark in July 2023.
As of this week, there are only about two dozen confirmed cases worldwide.
Risk in BC has not changed:
“It was not unexpected for BA.2.86 to show up in Canada and the province,” said Dr Henry and Minister Dix in their joint statement on August 29, 2023.
“The risk to people in BC has not changed. COVID-19 continues to spread globally, and the virus continues to adapt.”
Viral mutation:
Dr Henry said this week in a TV interview that BA.2.86 “has a number of different mutations that make it less like some of the Omicron strains (e.g. EG.5)”.
Apparently the variant (in some areas of the world nicknamed “Pirola”) carries more than 30 mutations. This is the largest leap in viral evolution since Omicron, which caused a massive wave of cases when it first emerged in 2021.
According to a new risk assessment by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the USA, BA.2.86 may be more likely to cause breakthrough infections in people who were previously infected or vaccinated, compared to other circulating variants.
“Each variant that arises has some sort of survival advantage”, says Dr Henry. She said that so far there hasn’t been very severe illness and that spread has not been very rapid. In fact, she said BA.2.86 is more similar to some of the older (pre-Omicron) strains.
From a viral evolutionary point of view that may indicate that the COVID virus is ‘running out of ideas’. And if so, it may stabilize as a virus on this planet but not gain any further prevalence.
Vaccinations:
“Reducing transmission and having high levels of protection through vaccination continue to be our best defence against all variants of COVID-19. People who are vaccinated are less likely to get seriously ill from COVID-19 or require hospitalization,” it was stated in the BC statement.
The next vaccination rollout in BC is expected around mid-September, with m-RNA type vaccines having been updated recently to address the latest Omicron strains (but not necessarily BA.2.86 or other unknown recent strains).
Dr Henry said this week that ‘memory immunity’ is probably good protection for most people but that “we’re watching it to see for sure”.
Data monitoring in BC:
“This detection of the Omicron subvariant BA.2.86 reflects the ongoing data monitoring and surveillance in BC, including continued testing of people with COVID-19 symptoms and innovative new wastewater surveillance.
The latest wastewater surveillance with whole genome sequencing shows no other detections of this strain of the virus so far; data continues to show XBB 1.5 is still the most common subvariant being reported in BC. We continue to monitor data and information as the virus evolves worldwide.”
Dr Henry said the surveillance system for COVID is “robust enough to pick this up”.
Fall season exposures:
Now that community and school routines are getting back to normal after the summer season, more people will be in closed indoor spaces.
That will increase the likelihood of exposure to a range of airborne viruses that cause respiratory illness, including influenza, COVID and RSV.
“We urge all people in BC to continue to follow public-health advice and to stay home when sick, wear masks when appropriate, follow respiratory etiquette, wash hands frequently, and, most importantly, stay up to date on your vaccinations,” said Dr Henry in this week’s COVID update statement.
===== GOVERNMENT LINKS:
How to get vaccinated in BC | BCCDC data on respiratory diseases
===== RELATED:
COVID NEWS ARCHIVE (Island Social Trends, 2019 to present)
===== ABOUT THE WRITER:
Mary P Brooke, B.Sc. (nutrition / health science) has been covering COVID-19 pandemic news since the end of 2019. She covered the daily BC Health and PHO COVID news conferences throughout 2020 and 2021, and going forward now the updates since 2022. She was the first journalist to ask about MIS-C in children as well as long-COVID. She has been consistent with a line of questioning about the BC (and Canada-wide) immunization rollout that essentially left young adults to last.
Mary P Brooke is the founder, editor and publisher of Island Social Trends, which posts all news free to access at IslandSocialTrends.ca because she believes in the importance of an informed society — more informed, better decisions. She reports news through a socioeconomic lens, with an eye to the political directions of our time. | Subscribe | Advertise
Island Social Trends emerged mid-2020 entirely online, in the footsteps of its precursor publications West Shore Voice News (print/PDF weekly 2014-2020), Sooke Voice News (print weekly 2011-2013), and MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010).