Volume 8 • 2021 • Issue 6

Dr. Aaron Burry, leader of the CDACOVID-19 Response Team and CDA’s Deputy CEO—Professional Affairs, answered questions in November about dentistry in the context of the pandemic. Q How is the pandemic affecting Canada these days? Dr. Aaron Burry (AB): In Canada, we have a very high vaccination rate of close to 85% of the eligible population and good compliance with measures to mitigate COVID spread. In North America at the moment—although there are trouble spots—we are seeing very promising improvements. Globally, Russia, Eastern Europe and Greece are experiencing a COVID surge, and, in the last week, Europe has seen a doubling of daily caseloads. The main driver is low population vaccination rates that are often well below 65%. With winter coming and more activities returning indoors, there is concern that it will get worse before it gets better. When you look at the global infection rate for COVID, it keeps fluctuating, but it has never fallen below about 280,000 new cases per day. It has gone up to 900,000 new cases a day during surges. Right now, we are climbing again, primarily because of Eastern Europe. To deem the pandemic “under control” globally, we need to stop this pattern and eventually bring numbers down below 280,000 with more countries seeing no significant new cases. In Canada, we are in a phase of community-based outbreaks, where local factors have more influence on COVID rates than provincial ones. The risk of potentially COVID-19 positive patients presenting for treatment depends on where you practise. For example, in Cornwall, Ontario, where I practise, the vaccination rate is much lower than other places in the rest of Canada, closer to 70% and this city of about 45,000 people is still experiencing community spread. We had more COVID cases in hospital last week in Cornwall than in all the hospitals combined in neighboring Ottawa, where about 1 million people live. It’s important that dentists keep on top of local conditions; they are especially impactful at this stage in the pandemic in Canada. Closing in on two years of the pandemic, we’ve already been through several cycles of loosening and tightening of public health measures. Right now, our situation in Canada is fairly good, but as we’ve seen before, we can’t let our guard down. People might ask, “Why do I need to keep up all these protocols when my community hasn’t seen a case in a while?” Unfortunately, with the COVID-19 Delta variant, the situation can change quickly. This week, Sudbury, Ontario, recently reinstated measures to control outbreaks that began in schools and have caused increased infection in their community. Q Is there any new COVID research that we should be aware of? AB: An excellent study 1 from the U.S. Veteran’s Administration was published in early November called SARS-CoV-2 vaccine protection and deaths among US veterans during 2021 . It offers good, solid data from a large sample size. It looked at questions regarding infection and serious illness in both vaccinated and unvaccinated people and included about 800,000 veterans, with good representation of different ages and races. It shows that vaccination is very effective, about 90% shortly after the second vaccine, and that it declines over the next six months, particularly for people older than 65. Dr. Aaron Burry Your COVID-19 Questions Answered 9 Issue 6 | 2021 | CDA atWork