Our seventh wave of COVID-19 is no longer moving many people. The figures slip on our screens before evaporating in the indifference of the scorching summer. Quebecers die every day from the consequences of the coronavirus. Strength in numbers, prosaically explained to us Public Health. In their shadows, thousands of others struggle with the aftermath of an unpredictable disease, for which more than fifty symptoms have been identified. Their suffering is sometimes so intrusive that it becomes unbearable, striking proof of the limits of taking charge of this contingent which is destined to increase further.
Poorly known because it is too recent, the long-term COVID strikes 10 to 20% of people infected with SARS-CoV-2, including children. However, its most common symptoms (low tolerance for effort, persistent headaches, difficulty concentrating, mental fatigue, various pains, etc.) can become disabling and last for weeks or even months. Evil can take such twisted paths to settle permanently that it is then necessary to mobilize entire multidisciplinary teams. Science is advancing in minute steps and resources are lacking. In the meantime, patients feel abandoned.
This is the case of this Torontonian who calls for medical assistance in dying as her life has become an ordeal since the COVID-19 is invited. The debate has explosive potential. By removing the requirement that natural death must be reasonably foreseeable, Canada opened a loophole that Tracey Thompson stepped into. Reduced to the point of no longer being able to work, she argues that she cannot see herself ending her life without a fixed address for lack of sufficient income. His case divides the medical and political community. Is right.
It is surreal to imagine that we can come to such an end in a country where medical care is free and the social safety net is so tight. Because that’s where the shoe pinches. It could be argued that science needs a little more time to find solutions to this debilitating disease. However, this will not eliminate the question of the means that we are collectively ready to mobilize to take care of these patients. And for how long.
On ice since the death on the order paper of Bill 38 last month, the revision of Quebec’s law on end-of-life care will require us to decide on many delicate cases. In addition to expanding access to assisted dying for people with neurodegenerative diseases and adding advance requests, it will be imperative that the impoverishment that Ms.me Thompson as an aggravating factor in his suffering is studied head-on, without detour.
Because, in the secrecy of the cottages, the distress is great for many. Quebec has announced the deployment of a pilot project bringing together about fifteen specialized clinics intended for long-term COVID and Lyme disease. Will that be enough? The government is giving itself three years to decide. It’s a long long time, knowing that reinfections are no longer marginal. Currently, the proportion of reinfections is around 20%, due to new variants, which are more contagious than ever.
This explaining this, the fire resumed in our hospitals, on the verge of collapse, and with it, the bonuses for health workers, renewed until September. Why the hell did this announcement come so late? It seems that we no longer know how to interpret the pandemic signs, even in the upper echelons. They are not lying, however, agreed the director of public health of Quebec Thursday. Taking advantage of the green light given to vaccines for toddlers, Luc Boileau has reinforced the point of individual responsibility. Repeat after him: vaccination, mask, hand hygiene, distancing, Paxlovid!
What the Dr Luc Boileau does not say enough, it is that our individual choices come with a share of risk for others (which is already enormous), but also for oneself, even in good health, even duly vaccinated, even with antibodies torn from a successfully fought COVID. On Tuesday, the director of the WHO for Europe also warned the world against trivializing COVID-19, “repeated infections [pouvant] potentially lead to long-lasting COVID,” courtesy of a pandemic lotto that also occasionally distributes damaged senses or increased risk of cardiovascular complications.
We can continue to manage the pandemic like this, on a small weekly basis, according to the waves and the good will of everyone. Still, we delude ourselves by imagining that the pandemic comes down to its visible part. Talk to the thousands of infected people who have inherited complex and diverse health conditions. These will mobilize a lot of our resources, and for a long time. And we’re not even talking here about all those other patients whose appointments and treatments are postponed every time the pandemic fire surprises us. We are not out of the woods. Even less by making everyone for themselves triumph.