Why Canada is divided over reopening despite controlling COVID-19

More than 15 months of immeasurable hard work is paying off now, and we are ready to cross the finish line and perhaps shift our focus to helping other countries get there sooner for the greater good of humanity.

Canadians should be rewarded for their efforts to end the third (and final) wave of COVID-19 and quickly return to a somewhat normal pre-pandemic lifestyle – without the constant fear of the unknown that awaits this relentless virus.

But nothing is set in stone with COVID-19, and that uncertainty in the coming weeks and months divides experts over what to do next — leading some to call for a more rapid reopening, while others suggest we move more cautiously as the ebb epidemic.

Variable delta poses a new ‘challenge’

One of the Canadian wildcards that has been dealt in recent weeks is a highly transmissible delta variant, also known as B.1.617.2, which can single-handedly disrupt our endgame plans and make our vaccination goals more urgent.

“The problem is Delta. We’re obviously much better off than we were in March, but we’re facing the same challenge,” said Dr. Alison McGuire, a medical microbiologist and infectious disease specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.

“Three months ago, before we had Delta, it really looked like we were going to get vaccinated and it was just fine – but this virus is harder than that.”

Dr. Michael Jardam, an infectious disease expert in Toronto and acting executive director of Health PEI, says he’s approaching summer with “cautious optimism.”

“If it weren’t for the delta formula, I think there would be a lot of optimism. But I think we’d still have the majority of Canadians that weren’t really protected,” he said.

“It’s weird, but we haven’t changed things much yet because of this alternative, and the fact that vaccines, with only one dose, are around the corner. 30% efficacy. This is the challenge.”

Watch | What you need to know about the delta variable:

The respiratory specialist details what is known about the delta variant of the coronavirus, including what makes it different, how dangerous it is, and whether vaccines protect against it. 4:26

Federal health officials urge caution when reopening

Despite the delta spread, Canada’s COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to decline week by week thanks to more than 37 million doses of vaccines To date – the equivalent of almost the entire population of the country.

approx 80 percent of eligible Canadians have at least one dose while there 35 percent We have two – and this number is growing rapidly every day.

But top federal public health officials remain very cautious in their messages to Canadians for fear of provinces and territories lifting restrictions too soon, and seeing an increase in COVID-19 levels leading to another brutal wave or a devastating shutdown.

Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr Theresa Tam, says that while there are currently fewer than 640 cases of COVID-19 a day, fewer than 1,000 hospitalized and fewer than 500 patients in intensive care units, this is not the time to let our guard down.

“We have to be very careful, because the provinces are just starting to open up, and then we will see what happens,” she said during a press conference on Tuesday.

“Although we have a good dose of coverage, we still need, I think, a higher increase. A large number of people are not fully vaccinated.”

Even the deputy chief public health officer, Dr. Howard Ngo, said he “would like to have 100 percent coverage for both doses” in Canada – a goal that’s nearly impossible high a far cry from. 75 percent with one dose and 20 percent with two doses Set in late May.

Officials accused of ‘moving goal posts’ upon reopening

Some experts are criticizing “pessimistic” messages from federal health officials at a time when Canadians should be celebrating the progress we’ve made, the decline in COVID-19 levels provided by the vaccines and the safe activities available to us.

“Public health messaging has been pessimistic, both from the federal level and for us specifically in Ontario,” said Dr. Somon Chakrabarti, an infectious disease specialist at Trillium Health Partners in Mississauga.

He added that this could have a negative impact on the public’s perception of the epidemic.

“We’re in the best position we’ve been in and people are more afraid than they were a year ago, when we didn’t have a vaccine.”

Dr. Fahad Razak, an epidemiologist and internist at St Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, said the efficacy of the vaccines has proven to be a “scientific miracle” and should remain “top of mind in all of our public health messages.”

“We’ve been through 15 very difficult months with this pandemic, and we’ve had some of the longest and most severe public health restrictions in the world,” he said.

“Canadians have accepted and followed these recommendations really admirably, and there has to be an acknowledgment that we have provided incredible grounding in the past few months.”

Chakrabarti says the persistent negative tone in messages from some federal and provincial health officials has caused them to “lose space” and spark “concern about reopening” with the potential to “undermine the efficacy of the vaccine.”

“You have people who have been fully vaccinated and are still worried about their lives; you have people who will say, ‘What is the point of vaccination? “So it’s actually feeding into vaccine frequency.”

“Others feel as if the rug has been pulled or they are moving the goalposts…People are terrified, and they don’t see any hope.”

We will never close again

On the same day, Tam said she was not in favor of lifting mandatory concealment mandates despite the 75-20 vaccine threshold being crossed, and British Columbia announced that masks would be recommended. No longer mandatory.

And while there is a file Ontario Science Table Delta is now estimated to make up more than 70 percent of cases in the province and its reproduction value is above one, which means it could cause exponential growth of the case, Ontario Go to step 2 to reopen a few days ago.

“Yes, we want to liberalize restrictions as quickly as possible, but the flip side of that is that none of us, I don’t think, want to face another wave with the number of deaths and hospitalizations and the possibility of infection increasing,” McGuire said.

“It’s really hard for governments and public health to walk the line of what’s most relaxed before we get into trouble, and how much worse is it slowing down versus having to go back?”

Gardam says that although some experts have said it is not possible to completely vaccinate our way out of the pandemic, it is possible to approach doing so with one caveat: If restrictions are eased early, the virus will find vulnerable groups.

Given the fact that older adults, long-term care residents and other populations at risk of severe outcomes have been largely vaccinated, Chakrabarti says, the increase in delta-driven cases will not be as severe as in the past.

But McGuire says there is still a lot of anonymous information about the impact of the delta spread in Canada in the coming weeks and months for the restrictions to be fully relaxed yet.

“We don’t know how many people need to be vaccinated to slow this down,” she said. “We don’t know how well people are protected from severe disease from Delta.” “We are really in a very turbulent time.”

Gardam says his biggest fear right now isn’t necessarily the spread of the delta itself, but the inability of Canadians to withstand another shutdown in the future.

He said, “God help us if we get into a fourth wave where you have to shut everything down again. I mean, can you even understand what the public is going to do with that? For me, this is a completely off-limits area,” he said. .

“That’s it. We’re not going to shut down again. So please, let’s not do anything so hasty that we’re actually forcing ourselves to shut down again.”

This is an excerpt from Second Opinion, a weekly report on health and medical sciences emailed to us Subscribers every Saturday morning. If you have not yet subscribed, you can do so by clicking Here.