Pandemic, did you say pandemic? For vacationers who had hoped that the coronavirus would remain buried in distant memories, it was instead a small outbreak of COVID-19 cases that came to disturb the carefree of summer. Health authorities certify it: a higher number of positive cases of COVID variants was recorded in July. This confirms that the virus is still lurking, and that it remains worrying for the most vulnerable customers.
You only have to pay attention to the various echoes coming from our surroundings to understand that COVID screening tests have indeed been taken out of the drawers – beware of expiration dates, they could well make the measurement exercise completely futile. Official statistics confirm an impression that passed in a summer whirlwind: COVID-19 cases and the number of hospitalizations have been increasing more significantly since the beginning of July. The positivity rate was 20% this week, following a constantly upward curve since the beginning of April, when the percentage of positive cases was around 2%.
Our pandemic years have had “waves” and “peaks”, oh how we remember them! Each time, the depths of winter but also the heart of summer have been favorable to a few spikes, to which we have become somewhat accustomed. There is always a greater mystery surrounding the contagions of the summer season, a period generally associated with outdoor activities. Experts do not know precisely what conditions contamination during the summer.
Fortunately, the time when waves of COVID-19 put the population on alert and led to a whole series of containment and protection measures that, while necessary, had disturbing repercussions on the lives of Quebecers is over. Although we are a little surprised to have to rummage through the mask reserve 4 years after the start of this global pandemic, we have understood that the COVID-19 outbreaks, with new variants continuing to emerge over the months, are here to stay. It is our ability to fight and defeat them that has completely changed. Indeed, between the first pandemic turmoil and today, several vaccines have come to protect the vast majority of the population, which collectively makes us stronger.
Although our collective armor is strong—with nearly 25 million doses of vaccine administered to Quebecers since this protection became available—we must not forget that the most vulnerable clienteles remain a group that needs to be protected. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the oldest, sickest or immunocompromised people have been likely to develop the most serious forms of the disease, or even die from it. Unfortunately, this population has always been at the top of the death curves, everywhere on the planet.
This is also the group that, in the vast majority, continues to indulge in the various waves of vaccination still offered by public health. But the habit has lost strength in the general population, and perhaps the effectiveness of the vaccines as well, which could partly explain the summer resurgence we are witnessing. After having enjoyed significant success last fall and winter, vaccination has since fallen flat, or almost.
While it is first and foremost up to the most vulnerable clientele to redouble their efforts to protect themselves from risks, particularly through vaccines, it is also up to us to continue to apply the usual precautions in order to protect them. However, as time goes by, the debates surrounding COVID are increasingly greeted with carelessness, indifference or annoyance — sigh of exasperation, eyes rolled to the sky, COVID-19? Not there yet?
Although it is tempting to let our guard down, basic civic sense still requires us to stay out of circulation and take basic protective measures when we have symptoms, in order to provide a protective barrier to others. Following the principle that we correct what we know well, it is also always up to the authorities to conscientiously monitor the various manifestations of COVID-19, which Quebec is doing with a diligence that does it credit. Ontario confirmed this week that it was abandoning its wastewater monitoring program in certain municipalities, on the pretext that it overlapped with a similar federal program — which is not entirely the case. This monitoring program, still in force in Quebec, is essential for determining the trend in the circulation of the virus in the population, because it measures everyone without distinction, asymptomatic and confirmed sick or not.
COVID-19 is here to stay, even if it is a companion we would like to forget. It is up to us to make it a reality with which to deal. Without giving in to the outbursts of the early pandemic, let us not neglect the most vulnerable citizens for whom this virus is not a trifle, but rather a real threat.