Thought of the Day - January 17 2022 - Our 2022 Spring Reset

As has been talked about for the last month, probably half of all Canadians will be infected with Omicron by the end of January, meaning hospitalization will peak shortly after, then deaths will start to decline later in February.

Of course, as SARS-CoV-2 moves into its endemic stage there will still be significant outbreaks across the country throughout 2022, as isolated enclaves become infected.

This spring we will have the chance to put the pandemic behind us, by this I mean a chance to step down our pandemic measures. Let's take a look at some of the elements that need to be addressed.

Emergency Measures - Emergency measures, at the Federal or Provincial levels, are reserved for extraordinary circumstances, they were never intended to be ongoing declarations. Will they get phased out this spring, or will a cross-section of our authorities continue to grant themselves extraordinary rights on an ongoing basis?

Testing - Will PCR testing revert back to its original use as a medical diagnostic tool for the symptomatic, or will its use be expanded to, for example, mass scanning for seasonal flu?

COVID Vaccination - These will continue for the foreseeable future. This ship has already sailed, and whether we want them or not 10s or even 100s of millions of COVID vaccine doses will be dumped on our shores in the coming years.

Vaccination Passports - Here we will have the choice of whether to:

• Phase-out the use of these, other than for strictly medical purposes, as having served their purpose.

• Continue to insist they be used by service industries (restaurants, travel, events) on an ongoing basis.

• Expand their use to include a plethora of other shots such as the flu vaccine or vaccines for the common cold that are probably coming down the pike, and even other medical procedures.

Vaccine Mandates - Next there is whether we should continue with the suspension of rights (movement, employment etc.), for those who have not been COVID vaccinated. Will these restrictions be eased or will even greater measures be put in place, such as those being put in place in Quebec - people who choose not to get vaccinated will receive a fine?

Physical Distancing - The use of physical spacing, masks, occupancy restriction and telework has done a great job of flattening the curve. Many of these are still relevant to limit the spread of many respiratory diseases. However, even though we renamed these measures from Social Distancing, they do indeed socially distance people.

These are all very important issues. I am sure you would find it hard to explain where we are today to a version of yourself from back in 2018. Now extrapolate where we might be by 2024 and see how such a conversation would go with your present self.

And what do I predict? More importantly, what do you think? This is the time to think about where 2022 might take us, so you can help shape the coming of spring.

Enough from me for today, stay tuned to the blog for my predictions later in the week.

Cheers

Cliff