Dr. Theresa Tam, chief public health officer, grossly underestimated COVID infection rates in Public Health Agency planning, data from Statistics Canada showed yesterday. Tam managed Canada’s COVID response on assumptions “less than 10%” of people would get infected..StatsCan in a report said 20% of Canadians had tested positive to date with actual infection rates likely even higher. “This is the first nationally representative study of Canadian adults who tested positive with rapid antigen tests,” said the report..“Approximately 1 in 5 Canadians aged 18 years and older indicated they tested positive for COVID-19 either through a rapid antigen test or polymerase chain reaction test before April 1,” said the report. “However this figure understates the true number of infections over that period as some people who were infected may not have had access to a test, chose not to be tested or were unaware they had COVID.”.Among young Canadians under 34 the known infection rate was 26.5%. Among pensioners the rate was 7%. Among adults of all ages another 8% of adults who never tested positive “suspected they contracted COVID-19 at least once,” wrote analysts..“There are various and sometimes multiple reasons for people suspecting they had a prior infection, the three most commonly reported being having COVID-19 symptoms (82%), being exposed to a household member who was suspected of having COVID or tested positive for COVID (39%) and being exposed to someone outside their household who was suspected to have had COVID or tested positive for COVID (25%),” said the report..Findings were based on questionnaires in a Canadian COVID-19 Antibody And Health Survey. Only volunteer testing of blood and saliva samples would confirm actual infection rates, said the report. “These direct measures are not yet available,” it said..Dr. Tam from the outbreak of the pandemic said federal planning was predicated on a low infection rate, less than 10%. “Canada is aiming for strong epidemic control over the course of the pandemic with less than 10% of the population infected overall,” Tam told reporters June 29, 2020. “Transmission is largely under control,” she added..Epidemiologists at the time questioned the 10% forecast. Dr. Howard Njoo, deputy chief public health officer, said May 28, 2020 the infection rate was likelier “30% up to 70% of the population.” Alberta Chief Medical Officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw last January 11 told reporters “we should assume at a minimum we’re seeing about ten times or more number of cases than we’re diagnosing.”.“Not everyone who acquired COVID-19 may have been aware or tested,” StatsCan said yesterday. “This limitation was exacerbated with the onset of the Omicron variant in late 2021 as much higher rates of infection put a strain on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing in some jurisdictions. As a result there was an increase in the use of rapid antigen tests whose results are not necessarily reported to health authorities.”
