Although most COVID-19 cases have slowly declined since the beginning of the year until August, there are early signs indicating a new wave of COVID-19 cases across Canada. With hospital treatment cases rising, disease experts are also discussing how this new wave differs from previous waves.

The Public Health Agency of Canada reported an 11 percent increase in COVID-related hospitalizations on August 15 compared to the previous week.

In this regard, infectious disease expert Dr. Isaac Bogoch told CTV’s Your Morning on Wednesday that there are some seasonal factors contributing to the rise in COVID-19 cases, but unlike the flu, this disease is present year-round.

He stated, “COVID-19 will ebb and flow, but it seems to always linger in the background.”

According to data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), COVID-related hospital treatment cases have re-emerged since last spring.

The data indicates that from April 2022 to March 2023, there was a 19 percent increase in hospital stays in Canada for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 compared to the same period the previous year.

The data also showed that one of the main differences in this wave of hospitalizations is that patients are older, with an average age of 75 compared to 63 the previous year.

Another key difference is the average duration of stay for patients in hospitals, which has increased from 13 days to 20 days. However, while patients are spending more time in the hospital, the death rate has decreased by 1 percent. Between 2022 and 2023, deaths related to COVID-19 in the hospital represented about 10% of hospitalizations, compared to 11% the previous year.

While hospitalization cases are on the rise, CIHI data also indicated a decline in emergency visits for COVID-19.

Emergency departments saw over 222,000 visits due to the virus during the reporting period, compared to 262,000 visits in 2021-2022.

Despite the rise in hospital treatment cases, Bogoch stated that he does not believe this wave will overwhelm the healthcare system as it did in previous years.

He added, “I don’t think we will see scenes like we saw in 2020 and 2021, when provinces ran out of ICU beds and we were bringing healthcare providers from other provinces to help.”

Although it may not reach these peak levels, the infectious disease expert added that the healthcare system is still operating above its capacity.

To alleviate some of the pressure on the healthcare system and reduce COVID-19 infection rates, Bogoch stated that people should update their vaccine doses and receive a booster shot, especially those at greater risk of severe infection.