Want to know how COVID-19 subvariants are behaving in Alberta? Now it's a bit easier
The BQ variants now account for 75 per cent of sequenced cases and XBB.1.5 is on the rise
Albertans now have access to more detailed information on the COVID-19 variants circulating in the province.
Alberta Health's COVID information website recently started publishing a more nuanced breakdown of the subvariants being picked up, how common they are and trends over time.
"Across Canada [Alberta has] been one of the best in keeping track of the changes and making that publicly available," said University of British Columbia evolutionary biolgoist and COVID-19 modeller, Sarah (Sally) Otto.
The change comes after the provincial lab stopped screening all positive samples for specific variants in early February. It's now focused solely on its practice of running a subset of cases through full genome sequencing.
The process provides a full genetic picture of each sample and, as a result, identifies whatever lineage is present in the cases tested.
Alberta has been reporting its variant tracking to scientific COVID-19 databases. But Otto said making this information easily accessible to Albertans is key.
"I think it's helpful to have as much information resolved and present to the public so you really know what you're dealing with."
What the data reveals
The latest data show two BQ subvariants accounted for 75 per cent of the sequenced cases during the week of Feb. 5 to 11.
The proportion of cases identified as XBB.1.5 is growing in Alberta, as it is across Canada, Otto said.
It accounted for 20 per cent of sequenced cases during the same week.
"XBB.1.5 is more transmissible. It's easier to get. So that is a problem and it's worth keeping an eye on that. But we don't have real game changers at the moment," said Otto.
"Many of us are resistant at this point — at least for a while — because we've had a recent vaccine or a recent infection. And these variants that we're seeing circulating aren't getting around all of our immunity."
The University of Calgary's Craig Jenne said this information is used by health-care providers and policy makers. But it also provides valuable insights for members of the public.
"Any time we have transparency in data reporting, it allows us to be a little more informed about what is happening across the region," said Jenne, an associate professor in the department of microbiology, immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Calgary.
Keeping an eye on trends
"With these subvariants we're able to see if there's something new being introduced. Is it rising quickly? And that can be used very effectively to predict what might be occurring over the next few weeks."
Albertans, he said, can keep any eye on the trends as they make decisions about their lives.
"As we've been told by the province, some of this personal safety reflects back on our decisions, based on our personal, family [and] social risk. So by knowing what's out there, by knowing the trends — whether a particular variant is growing or not — helps us make those decisions down the road for our own personal cohorts, families and workplaces."
The take-home message, according to Jenne, is there is still a lot of virus in the province.
"The good news is we're not seeing any critical threat emerging, at least with new variants in the province. But at the same time it is very clear that the overall health risk is not gone, particularly for people that have underlying health conditions or ... where there may be large groups gathering indoors and risk of exposure."
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