Preparing for the holidays: Doctor gives insight on avoiding Omicron

As people get ready to celebrate a second COVID Christmas, an infectious disease physician in Regina is encouraging them to take some extra steps to prevent themselves from contracting or spreading the Omicron variant over the holidays.

Dr. Alex Wong joined the Greg Morgan Morning Show on Thursday and said one item in particular could have a huge part to play in keeping case numbers low.

“The bottom line here is to make certain that you have access to lots of rapid tests,” Wong said. “I think supplies are not an issue for us in the province.

“If you’re planning to get together with anyone, in terms of having an unmasked gathering indoors with food (and) drinks, that’s the sort of a situation where you really want to do your rapid test as close to that event as you possibly can.”

There is no shortage of locations across Saskatchewan where you can pick up kits, including places like libraries, Co-op stores, fire halls and town offices.

“You want to probably do (the test) at the house, before you’re going to make the drive or head on over (to someone’s house),” Wong said. “If you have had exposure to someone with symptoms, someone with COVID, or if you have symptoms yourself, the right thing to do is to stay home, bubble up and just kind of try to lay low.”

Wong says early data and information regarding the Omicron variant show it carries very similar symptoms to any other virus common this time of year.

“Unfortunately, there are all the common things like runny noses, sore throat, fever, headaches, sneezing — all the kind of stuff that you get with run-of-the-mill common respiratory viruses,” he said.

“There really is no simple way to distinguish between Omicron and pretty much any type of common cold, so if you do have symptoms, it’s really important to go get tested and to isolate.

“It’s important to make sure you minimize your exposure with other individuals to limit the likelihood that you’re going to pass Omicron on to them because it’s super-contagious.”

Early studies coming out of England show the Omicron variant to be much more transmissible than other variants, but less deadly.

And countries like South Africa look to have already passed their peak with the new variant, showcasing a “modest” impact on the country’s health-care system, according to Wong.

He says data coming out of countries that have dealt with the new variant longer than Canada could provide a huge sigh of relief for those in the health-care system in the province.

“There’s more and more data worldwide to suggest that maybe it isn’t as virulent as Delta was,” he said. “There are still a lot of unknowns, still a lot of questions.

“We do not want to minimize the potential impact of Omicron. A lot of health-care workers (and) first responders that are critical for that system to continue to work are probably going to get taken out of work with Omicron, which has affected systems worldwide significantly.

“But so far, right now, the data is encouraging. And if that turns out to be real, it’s going to be a huge escape for all society.”