(File Photo/paNOW Staff)

By Jaryn Vecchio

On The Rise

Omicron causing COVID levels in P.A. to skyrocket: study

Jan 19, 2022 | 2:00 PM

The amount of COVID-19 in Prince Albert has skyrocketed to start 2022.

That’s according to the University of Saskatchewan which has been studying wastewater in the community to determine how prevalent the virus is.

Over a six-day span ending Jan. 10, P.A. saw a roughly 800 percent increase in COVID levels.

Researchers noted these are the highest levels they’ve seen in the city to date.

The main culprit for the spike: the Omicron variant.

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Nearly 90 per cent of the levels found in the wastewater are from the newest COVID variant.

It was reported the week before Omicron had become the dominant strain in P.A., just a week after the first levels of the variant were found in samples from the city.

Meanwhile, North Battleford, which is also a part of the study, saw a slight increase in levels from the previous week.

From Jan. 4 to Jan. 9, the community’s wastewater had around a 12 per cent increase in COVID levels.

The Omicron variant also accounts for around 93 per cent of the levels.

The U of S suggests the local daily case numbers for P.A. and North Battleford may continue to rise, coinciding with the increase in levels they’ve seen. This will depend on whether people get tested and report their results to the Saskatchewan Health Authority.

As of Jan. 19, there were 389 active COVID cases in the North Central (2) region which includes P.A. and 130 in the North West (4) region which includes North Battleford.

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow