Along with the premature deaths of many, lingering symptoms for others, COVID-19 has been a massive disruption. The restrictions necessary to manage it have hurt many financially, indebted us all through government borrowing, permanently changed thousands of lives, increased loneliness and mental health issues, interrupted studies and careers, interfered with athletic events and community gatherings of all kinds, and diminished life milestones like graduations, birthdays, making the team, weddings, funerals and much, much more.
The good news, cases are down and vaccinations are happening fast. MP for the Oakville riding, Minister of Procurement Anita Anand, followed the under-promise, over-deliver playbook. Canada is now a vaccine leader.
If you are vaccinated, even if you are exposed you have a low probability of being infected. The immunity of others who are vaccinated means there will be less virus around, so your chances of being infected are even lower. Even if you are infected, and even if it is with the Delta variant, you have a high probability of not needing hospitalization, and the likelihood of death is even more remote.
There are still risks. There have always been risks in life. Granted, this is an added risk, but science has come to our rescue and dramatically reduced it. Many other risks that used to be part of life, like mumps, measles, rubella, chickenpox and shingles, are much reduced. Before we had vaccines for these and for polio or tuberculosis or smallpox, people went about their lives, meeting in person, gathering in crowds, all without masks.
Yes, it’s a little less safe than it was in recent years before COVID-19, but it’s now safer than it has been at many times in recent human history to live the way we did 18 months ago.
Until there is again a need to protect hospital capacity, the government should step back as quickly as possible, and we commend the recent relaxations of restrictions.
It is time for the risk management responsibility to be returned to citizens.
If there is reason to believe that the only way to stay within hospital capacity is to reintroduce restrictions, the government needs first to limit those restrictions to those who choose not to be vaccinated for non-medical reasons, and, second, to increase hospital capacity to deal with this new reality. It has to be cheaper than continuing to pay for people to stay home.
Science and our governments have controlled the spread with restrictive measures. Now they have given us vaccine protection. It is time to start living with this new risk, instead of having our lives on hold hoping it will disappear. The sooner the better.
