Yikes! COVID-19 in Canada is "at a crossroads" according to public health officials and if we stay on this route, we could see 5,000 daily cases in October. It's up to individuals to keep cases low.
The Public Health Agency of Canada released new data and modelling on September 22 of the state of the pandemic in the country.
That includes a long-range forecast that goes into November.
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It's up to individual people to take action and reduce contact rates. That will decide which path we go on.
Dr. Theresa Tam said that it can have a "profound" impact on maintaining control.
If we keep with our current contact rate, the epidemic is expected to resurge with 5,000 daily cases being reported by the middle to end of October. For context, there was a daily increase of 1,766 from September 20 to 21.
Getting to 5,000 is possible if our rate of contacts goes up; that would have the epidemic resurge "faster and stronger."
However, there is a better forecast.
If we decrease our current contact rate, the epidemic is expected to come under control in most locations in Canada.
That would mean just over 1,000 daily cases being reported steadily through to November.
The Public Health Agency of Canada
Since a lot of the new COVID-19 cases recently have been young people, Dr. Tam had a special call-out for young Canadians.
"This is your generation, this is your time," she said.
According to the country's top doctor, we can't get to a slow burn scenario without young people doing their part.
A day earlier, Dr. Tam said that we're not on that path right now but we can get back there.
The Public Health Agency of Canada
Meanwhile, Dr. Howard Njoo said that he can't confirm if Canada is in a second wave because every region of the country is different.
There are even differences within provinces, not just between then.
Edmonton has hundreds more COVID-19 cases than Calgary does.
Toronto accounted for 153 of Ontario's 478 cases reported on September 22 while Ottawa only had 90, which is the city's one-day record.
There is still hope when it comes to pandemic news.
Canada has secured over 100 million doses of possible COVID-19 vaccines which is way more than enough to vaccinate every single person in the country.