COVID-19 | Back to “normality” (and lessons to be learned)

The federal government lifted the last border restrictions on Saturday. The World Health Organization, which counts fewer and fewer deaths, sees the end of the pandemic dawning. And overall, COVID-19 occupies less space in our lives, in our heads. Is the long-awaited return to normal finally taking hold? On the eve of the cold season, five experts answer us.

Catherine Handfield
The Press

Caroline Quach, pediatrician and microbiologist-infectiologist at CHU Sainte-Justine

“Partly, I think. We are still a large proportion of people who have been vaccinated, with at least one booster dose, and who have also caught COVID-19. The virus is expected to return and still cause us respiratory infections, but in theory much less severe than it was in 2020. Now, are we able to learn lessons from the pandemic of the last two years and to adopt behaviors that prevent COVID-19, but at the same time the other respiratory viruses? […] We are coming more and more towards a normal life, but we should not leave the most immunocompromised behind. This is always where the balance is difficult to achieve. »

Laurence Monnais, Full Professor in the Department of History at the University of Montreal

“In the history of pandemics, we can identify the period when it emerges, but we rarely have an end date. Yes, hospitalizations and deaths are down — and so much the better — but the number of cases continues to fluctuate. And it is not because we are no longer in an emergency context that the threat has disappeared. […] Saying that the pandemic is over, that we are getting back in shape, that suits politicians, because it evacuates what has not gone well since the pandemic: inflation, the increase in social inequalities… And that what about those for whom the virus has become a chronic disabling disease? Moments of health emergency are opportunities to reflect on what happened and what we did wrong. When I listen to the speeches of politicians during the election campaign, nothing is said about public health, when it is time to talk about it. Because this pandemic is not the last. »

Christine Grou, President of the Order of Psychologists of Quebec

“In a way, yes, there is a certain normality that has returned, because we go to the theaters, we walk in the streets, we are not afraid to enter the elevator with someone who is not wearing the mask. With vaccination and fewer hospitalizations and deaths, COVID-19 is something that seems less serious to us. But society has changed all the same. What seems to me most apparent are the transformations in the world of work, and also the minds that are less tolerant. A mental fatigue remained. In the offices, the desperate requests for consultation continue to abound. »

The D^D Cécile Tremblay, full professor in the department of microbiology, immunology and infectiology at the Université de Montréal

“We have to remain cautious and, above all, not forget the lessons we have learned. It is very difficult to say whether we will experience another wave or not, but we know that the microbe remains dangerous for unvaccinated people, for the elderly, for people with chronic diseases and those whose immunity is compromised. . That will remain, and we know that these populations must be protected. We also know that when you have a respiratory virus, it’s better not to be in public or to wear a mask if you have to. We know that hand washing works. […] If we keep these reflexes, and if the vaccination continues to be updated as the strains vary, I think normality will return over the next year. »

Roxane de la Sablonnière, director of the Laboratory on social change and identity at the University of Montreal

“I think you could answer yes and no to the question. Yes, for certain habits that have returned to the way they were — people on the subway are just as crowded together as they were three years ago. We see that there was a return to the life before, in a way. We hear less about it in the media, too. On the other hand, there is perhaps something which, I believe — and I hope — will remain: we have become aware that major upheavals can also occur here, in Canada, in Quebec. This awareness of our vulnerability is important, but it can also weaken us. We must protect ourselves from it in order to continue to move forward, to continue to engage and work towards a better world. »