Head Of Ontario's Science Table Calls For More Restrictions Due To Omicron Surge

An Ontario epidemiologist says the province should get ready to tighten restrictions as cases of the Omicron variant continue to pop up across the province.

On Monday morning, Dr. Peter Jüni, the director of Ontario's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, told CTV that people should not embrace "the myth" that the rapidly spreading variant only causes mild illness.

"This is historical. This is unprecedented. This week Omicron will become the dominant variant in the province," Dr. Jüni said. "People cannot imagine the sheer scale of what we are talking about here. It is really challenging."

He told CTV News Ottawa that "we also need to be ready, you know, for more restrictions. We can't hold the ship otherwise."

"We won't be able to keep this amount of reopening that we have right now, we need to be aware of that," Dr. Jüni said. "If we want to avoid even harsher restrictions, we need to react swiftly now and go back a little bit with our reopening somewhere between the original Step 3 or Step 2."

Dr. Jüni told Narcity the Omicron variant is "considerably more transmissible" than others seen so far.

"It can infect so many people in a very short timeframe that our health care system could struggle again," he said. "So we need to get ready here, we need to up our game, immunity-wise. Third doses for those who are eligible already, more first and second doses, rapid rollout of vaccines in children 5 to 11 — all of that holds. But we also just need to reconsider how we handle the Christmas holidays, etc., and we need a little bit more restrictions, we need a little bit less contact, a little bit less potential for transmission of the virus, during the next few months."

The Ontario government said it would be pausing its reopening indefinitely in a news release on December 7, and won't be lifting capacity limits as originally planned due to rising concerns about the new variant.

"This variant here is so absolutely infectious now... This will reach every single person. Statistically speaking, there will be very few lucky ones," Jüni told CTV.

"Once everybody has reached immunity, the game probably will change a bit. I would expect 2022, somewhere in spring, to change, but first, we need to get there, and right now, it grows very explosively."

Health Canada has a robust website with all the latest information on COVID-19 vaccines and can answer any questions you may have.