opinion: ont.'s cautious approach to lifting covid measures is paying off
the months ahead will require continued vigilance as each of us does our part to keep our province moving forward, says dr. kieran moore.
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a pedestrian passes a mural at bloor street west and dundas street west in toronto in a file photo from dec. 3, 2020.
peter j thompson / national post]
by dr. kieran moore
last week, ontario released its plan to cautiously and gradually lift remaining public health and workplace safety measures by march 2022.
this plan follows the province’s decision in august to pause any further reopening as ontario adjusted its response in the face of the delta-driven fourth wave. we can be confident that the decision to do so was the right call. as a result of our cautious approach, ontario’s hospital capacity remains stable and the province continues to report one of the lowest rates of active cases in the country, well below the national average. in fact, we have trended toward or below the best-case scenario projected by expert modellers.
at the same time, two million students have returned to a safer classroom environment. during this time, provincial case rates have continued to steadily decline with schools and public health units effectively managing outbreaks to minimize transmission and reduce disruptions in learning.
after nearly two years of instability, we are now well-positioned to provide greater clarity on what ontarians can expect in the months ahead.
i have always supported that when implementing public health measures, we need to immediately start thinking about when we can safely remove them. that said, we cannot be lulled into a false sense of security and pretend that the pandemic is over. it isn’t. that is why ontario’s plan is to slowly and incrementally lift public health measures, providing us with time to monitor impacts on our hospitals and communities. critically, the plan takes a deliberate pause over the winter holidays as more of us gather indoors and as students return to in-class learning in january. in the absence of concerning trends in key public health and health-care indicators, like increases in hospitalizations and icu admissions, ontario will continue to move forward with its plan. and, if necessary, i won’t hesitate to advise government to slow down.
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over the same winter months, we will continue our work to proactively improve our vaccination levels. we expect health canada to approve the pfizer-biontech vaccine for youth aged five to 11 if deemed safe and effective in the coming weeks and we will work in lockstep with local public health partners to quickly roll out these doses. every day, we administer thousands of first and second doses to adults and youth already eligible for their shot as we also continue to provide third dose boosters to a growing number of individuals guided by the latest evidence. taken together, we can expect vaccine coverage to keep growing ahead of the new year, providing our communities with additional protection ahead of when the government will begin considering lifting proof of vaccination requirements.
we’ve seen other jurisdictions struggle when removing too many measures, too soon. in their most recent modelling, the ontario covid-19 science advisory table rightly pointed to nordic countries as a cautionary tale. finland and denmark suddenly removed almost all public health measures and have experienced a rapid surge in cases. ontario is taking a different approach.
that doesn’t mean that cases won’t rise. in fact, as more of us head indoors, ontarians should expect to see an increase through the winter. as i’ve said before, this is not cause for alarm, and we are prepared to respond to any scenario. the pandemic is now primarily in the unvaccinated and every person fully vaccinated reduces the risk of impact on our hospitals and our icus.
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as the province manages covid-19 for the long-term, the ultimate goal is to ensure a balanced approach with the least amount of disruption to people and businesses. responses will be tailored to local context and conditions. for example, if a particular region is seeing a pattern of outbreaks in a specific setting, local public health officials may choose to reapply measures across a local area or broader regions to make that setting or area safer, including capacity limits, distancing requirements, and requiring proof-of-vaccination. at this time, i do not foresee the need to reapply provincewide measures like broadscale shutdowns or business closures, unless a new vaccine-resistant variant enters our country or the province’s hospitals are at risk of becoming overwhelmed.
there’s no question that the months ahead will require continued vigilance as each of us does our part to keep our province moving forward. we can’t take our hard-fought progress for granted. we must stay cautious, disciplined, and never underestimate this virus. together, we want to continue taking small steps forward and not backwards.
dr. kieran moore is ontario’s chief medical officer of health.
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