The outgoing scientific director of Ontario’s COVID-19 Advisory Table says there’s no doubt, this province is in the midst of a sixth wave of the pandemic.

And Doctor Peter Juni says loosened restrictions are to blame.

“When you look at our waste water, it’s very clear. And you can call it whatever you want – a resurgence of the Omicron wave or a sixth wave – the point is really to understand, this is not a BA.2 wave. We can’t blame the subvariant. This is a throw caution to the wind wave,” Juni explained.

The number of patients with COVID-19 in Ontario hospitals was up 20 per cent Tuesday from the previous day to 790.

165 people with the virus are in intensive care units, another 7 from the day before.

Not all scientists are saying Ontario is definitively in a sixth wave.

Epidemiologist Dr. Tim Sly explained it this way to Zoomer Radio’s Fight Back with Libby Znaimer.

“Imagine your eyes are closed and you’re feeling your way along the ground, and the ground starts to rise up. You don’t really know if it’s a little ant hill that’s going to go up about four feet or the beginning of the foothills of the Rockies yet. And that’s where we are in the data,” Dr. Sly detailed. Listen to the full conversation by clicking here.

And York Region Medical Officer Dr. Barry Pakes told Fight Back, we should know in two to three weeks whether Ontario is officially in a sixth wave.