Are we ready for the end of COVID protocols?

Jeff Green | Mar 16, 2022

Kingston Frontenac Public Health (KFLAPH) , Public Health Ontario, and the Public Health Agency of Canada, have all been front and centre for the last two years providing information, advice, and directives to follow as we have collectively dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic.

We knew of their existence before the pandemic, but how relevant they would become during a pandemic was not something that most of us had ever thought much about. Starting in February of 2020, the name and face of Dr. Theresa Tam entered the public consciousness.

As the shock of pandemic related closures of schools and businesses became a reality in March and April of 2020, governments across the country said that they were leaning on Public Health to provide advice and, in some cases, direct measures to combat the spread of the virus, keep our healthcare system from being overwhelmed, and protect the most vulnerable people in our midst.

Over the next two years we have learned about how all three levels of Public Health agencies interact: where they receive their information from, and how the federal and provincial governments take recommendations from public health. This is all filtered through political agendas at times, resulting in decisions that have had some pretty severe impacts on our day to day lives.

As the information about the virus and its variants was gathered locally, regionally and globally, public health measures changed from week to week and month to month. For us, as members of the public, it was overwhelming at first. We reacted by supporting each other, and following the changing set of rules.

The bargain that we struck with public health officials, some of us more enthusiastically than others, was that they would provide us with as much information, as clearly stated, as possible, and that they would only ask us to limit our activities for good reason.

But compliance with certain measures, particularly masking, was never universal. When vaccines were developed and began being offered, there were controversies about how long it took for Canada to obtain supplies, and this gave way to concerns among some people about safety and efficacy.

But if compliance is a measure of confidence, the vast majority of us having been vaccinated is evidence that we are onside with the measures that have been put in place by politicians and public health. And the payoff is there. Our death rates are lower than the death rates in other jurisdictions around the world, and apart from the hospitality sector, our economy continues to thrive.

Dealing with issues that have been revealed and exacerbated in our healthcare system, as it faces a historic backlog in treatment for a host of chronic and acute conditions, is a major challenge that our governments need to face. In addition, they must address the housing crisis that was also deepened by the jump in real estate values, which was an unexpected consequence of the pandemic.

And while we have been dealing with COVID, the necessary changes that are necessary to address climate change are still waiting to be taken on, and the clock is ticking.

In the midst of all this, it was a bit of a shock last week, when Dr. Kieran Moore announced that, in effect, COVID measures are being pulled. Although he said the pandemic is not over, everything that he put in place indicates that, as far as Public Health Ontario is concerned, it is.

Very soon, it will join with smoking cessation, Lyme disease, radon remediation, obesity, influenza, and a host of other conditions that public health addresses throughout the year.

This is welcome news, except the explanation about why the measures that were so important until now, are no longer necessary, has been lacking.

Dr. Moore emphasised two factors in explaining why the measures can now be safely lifted. He said that the number of people in hospital with COVID is dropping and the vaccination rate is very high. He added that the staged opening up, that has already taken place since late January, has not led to an increase in hospital admissions, and he is confident that eliminating all safety measures, except for masking in very limited, high risk settings, is appropriate at this time.

One of the concerns, about the announcement, is that it has not been supported by the healthcare partners that Dr. Moore, Public Health Ontario, and our local KFLAPH have been working with throughout the pandemic.

Dr. Peter Juni of the Ontario Science Table, said his group was not consulted prior to the decision being announced, and added that he thought it was premature. He would have preferred to wait until a couple of weeks after the end of school spring break to see if the break would have an impact on caseloads.

The School Boards were not ready for the change, and have been considering their response. But if a demonstration of the provincial governments attitude were necessary, Minister Stephen Lecce provided one when he said that school boards will not have the option to maintain masking and cohoring requirements after March 21.

In Kingston Frontenac, Dr. Gibbens of the Verona Medical clinic put out a statement on Facebook.

“I strongly recommend that everyone continue to wear well fitting masks (preferably N95 or KN95) in higher risk settings such as schools, restaurants, stores, movie theatres, indoor workplaces, and indoor social gatherings. From a personal standpoint I would much rather wear a mask in these settings than run the risk of long term disability. From a societal standpoint, I want to help reduce the risk of transmission to people who are more vulnerable than myself. “

And there was a mixed message from Dr. Moore himself. While he said that people should be vigilant about staying home if they develop cold or flu symptoms, he did not go as far as saying Public Health Ontario encourages people to be masked in indoor settings where distancing is not possible. He remained silent on that point.

But when asked what he would do, he said he will wear a mask if goes to a shopping mall or a Costco store, to protect himself.

He will wear one, but as Medical Officer of Health, he is not recommending that we wear one. The implication is that masking is now a matter of personal protection, when until now it was considered a measure aimed at community protection. We thought we were wearing masks to protect others from any infection we may inadvertently be carrying, but now we are only wearing them to protect ourselves.

The contradictions are concerning because we have been depending on clarity, as much as possible, from our public health officials ever since the pandemic began. We get enough posturing from politicians.

That being said, the masking and distancing mandates were never going to extend into the warmer summer season, so it may not make much of a difference, if any, for most of us.

But my fear is that the vulnerable population, those who cannot get a vaccine or who are not as protected by vaccination as the general population, are being left to fend for themselves.

We have made the collective decision, apparently, to allow COVID to spread in our communities, hoping that our collective immunity will protect us, but those without that immunity need to take extra precautions as a result, further isolating an isolated population.

This is happening not only in Ontario, but around the world. The exact same measures have been taken in France, in the run-up to a presidential election next month, as were taken last week in Ontario, in the run up to a provincial election here.

Dr. Moore said that the deliberations around the decisions that Public Health Ontario have taken in this case, were not influenced by the premier or any other member of his government, and we have no reason to doubt his word.

The Premier is pretty happy about it, though, and the symbolism around opening up the Province on March 21, the first day of spring, seems more akin to public relations than to public health.