The fifth wave, marked by the meteoric spread of the Omicron variant, is drawing to a close. Backed by public health, François Legault announced the gradual abandonment of most health measures by March 14, two years almost to the day after the declaration of the health emergency. Some will see it as a government that is only reacting to the frustration expressed by more and more citizens. In reality, it’s a change of approach that is happening all over the world. The imposition of more or less strict confinement is no longer the solution.
At a press conference, the Prime Minister said he found that more and more Quebecers find that there are too many constraints. The elected caquistes did not fail to inform him that discontent has spread among their constituents. The “freedom convoy” withdrew from the streets of Quebec, but its message of protest against sanitary measures made its way.
It is too easy to think that the CAQ government has only yielded to popular pressure. The evolution of the pandemic in Quebec allows him to propose a deconfinement schedule: Public Health allows us to remove, like a stripper, the health constraints one after the other over the next four weeks.
If adherence to health measures, which is in the process of crumbling, is a factor that must be taken into account by Public Health, the epidemiological situation is even more important. In mid-January, the hospital network was in dire straits. Intensive care units were stretched to their limits, and dark plans were being made to apply “protocols” to determine which patients would be left to die for lack of care. Since then, the number of hospitalizations has decreased, as has that of people with COVID in intensive care. In addition, the hospital network has regained some room for maneuver, which is still slim, with the return of 10,000 health care workers on sick leave. New ways of caring for the sick have also improved the capacity of hospitals.
Now that the Legault government is announcing this deconfinement schedule and the possible lifting of the state of health emergency in mid-March, it would be inappropriate to backtrack. The acting national director of public health, Dr.r Luc Boileau, predicts that even with the various planned reductions, hospitalizations will level off or at worst, experience a slight increase that the hospital network will be able to absorb. A rollback is unlikely, he said.
Contrary to the situation last December when the government, after having made some relaxations, had to change its mind to impose severe restrictions, there is no variant such as Omicron in the rear view mirror of Public Health. The world is not safe from another “asteroid”, to use the expression of the director of public health, but there is none on the horizon.
With the passage of the Omicron variant, COVID-19 will move from an epidemic stage, where the disease spreads rapidly, to an endemic stage, where the coronavirus is still present, but results in the appearance of relatively few cases, usually mild. At least that’s what we hope.
In all likelihood, millions of Quebecers have contracted COVID-19 in this fifth wave of Omicron, in addition to those infected in previous waves. In addition, the vast majority of the population is doubly vaccinated and will be triply in the coming months, if the past is a guarantee of the future.
In this context, the Legault government has every reason to relax its grip. It must be said that since the surge of the fifth wave in December, Quebec is one of the places in the world where health constraints are the most severe.
The approach must change, said François Legault. In recent times, several European countries have considerably relaxed their measures. Some countries, such as the UK and Denmark, have dropped most restrictions. Living with the virus is the new leitmotif. In Quebec, this means quickly inoculating the third dose of the vaccine, which seems easier said than done. People at risk, if they contract COVID-19, should be taken care of and treated with antivirals. But there is no longer any question of confining adequately vaccinated people, whose health is no longer threatened by the coronavirus.
This is what Quebeckers were calling for. The anti-vaccine crusade has nothing to do with it. It is the evolution of the epidemic that dictates the next steps. And unless an asteroid falls from the sky, confined Quebec will be a thing of the past.