COVID-19 | Citizens take responsibility

Measures against COVID-19 are falling one after the other in Quebec. So much so that today it is not forbidden to dance in a rave on Saturday and visiting a friend who is battling cancer on Tuesday.

To go to the office while your two children are infected.

To kiss Grandma with a sore throat and a runny nose without taking a quick test.

If these things are permitted, that obviously does not mean that they are intelligent.

As in many places, Quebec is moving from coercive management of COVID-19 to an approach of individual responsibility. “We no longer want population measures,” Minister Christian Dubé said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Difficult to be clearer: the government no longer wishes to play the sheriffs to manage the pandemic.

We would have liked this transition to be more gradual. It would have been prudent to measure the effects of one reduction before introducing three others.

The government is already dangling the end of the mandatory mask almost everywhere, for example, while we do not yet know the effects of spring break, the lifting of the vaccine passport, the end of the mask in class and the opening of bars and restaurants to their maximum capacity.

What urgency was there in telegraphing such an announcement? Public Health could have watched the episodes “Christmas 2020” and “Christmas 2021” to remind themselves of the risk of announcing relief too far in advance.

This is all the more true as hospitalizations are on the rise again in certain European countries and the possibility of a sixth wave here is real, even if the forecasts suggest that it would be less pronounced than the fifth.

That said, even if we can question its pace, this transfer of responsibilities from the government to the citizens is desirable. The state cannot dictate indefinitely how many guests you can invite to dinner.

But this change of role implies taking responsibility on the part of the population. We talk about it too little.

The current reductions are causing a strangely welcome euphoria. But they also make society more dangerous for many of us. This includes seniors, the immunocompromised, and people with co-morbidities such as diabetes and obesity.

We should add that each individual has his own way of managing risk. In the office as in the public space, the most cautious should not become those who are looked at askance. Because, yes, the danger still exists.

COVID-19 is no longer the grim reaper it was two months ago. But at 50 deaths per week, it is nevertheless one of the ten largest causes of death in Quebec, somewhere between cancer (about 400 deaths per week) and suicides (about 20 deaths per week).

While enjoying our newfound freedom, it would be in our interest to think of others these days. In fact, it is a new form of citizenship that we want to see established.

We already know that vaccines and rapid tests are powerful tools to reduce the risk for us and for others. This is also the case with the mask. It is not because we announce the end of its compulsory wearing that its benefits suddenly become obsolete.

In this change of approach, Public Health cannot disengage either. Its role will no longer be to recommend constraints, but to inform and raise awareness.

What behaviors are most at risk? What comorbidities make you more vulnerable to COVID? In which contexts are the mask and rapid tests most useful? We need clear answers to these questions.

Quebecers have shown that they can take care of each other during the pandemic. This attitude does not have to fall with the reductions.