We have to learn to live with the coronavirus

We are almost two years into the COVID19 pandemic. While much was unknown in March 2020, Public Health and science has learned a lot of things to keep our province safe. But do they consider the consequences or remember them when making decisions?

The original mantra included social distancing, wear a mask. wash your hands, work from home if you can and stay at home if you are sick, and we will flatten the curve in two weeks and get back to normal. This worked to some degree, and many two-week intervals came and went, but normal never really arrived. Officials shouted from the rooftop “hold fast, the vaccines are coming.” This will be our way out of the pandemic.

With the emergence of the vaccine, residents of the province, including myself, lined up like sheep and today 93 per cent of the population 12 and older have two shots and are considered fully vaccinated, the highest vaccination rate in Canada. In addition, 74 per cent of those age five to 11 have one shot. However, protection is weak across the board, as you can still get infected and transmit the virus to others. Our high case count since Dec. 22 and, unfortunately, 28 deaths in total as of Jan. 19 are evidence of this.

Get back to basics was the message, and hold fast, the booster is coming. This will be our way out of the pandemic. Recent briefings have suggested we can’t stop the highly transmissible Omicron variant even with the high vaccination rates and booster rates, so we need to manage the hospitalizations, as everyone will get the virus at some point, but please, we can’t have all of you get it at the same time ... somewhat akin to waving the white flag.

We must ease the strain on hospitalizations, which currently stand at 18 (as of Jan. 19) with existing capacity still available, but we must bunker down to Alert Level 4 just in case, even though hospitalizations and deaths account for less than one per cent of all cases. Of course, this comes with all its restrictions, which impacts the mental health of all residents and places many business in financial jeopardy given the extended closures.

Dr. Proton Rahman has noted that current hospitalizations are lower than what modelling would expect. However, Public Health actions/ decisions suggest we still need to continue to hide from the virus instead of learning to live with the virus.

Despite all efforts we are no better off than we were in March 2020. Residents face restrictions, some of the toughest in Canada, and are limited in daily life. This includes closed schools, with our children’s learning opportunities diminished; no access to required medical services, which will lead to NON-COVID deaths; isolation of long-term residents/loved ones; and financial losses to business due to closures of bars, entertainment opportunities/ nightlife (concerts, movies, Growlers, Rogues, festivals, etc.), and capacity limits in gyms and restaurants, to name a couple.

The federal government has recently purchased enough booster vaccines (100 million) so we can line up for our fourth to ninth boosters (three a year until 2024) and no doubt all of the accompanying restrictions, which impact everybody’s mental and physical health and damage the economy. What makes you think that any number of boosters will turn this situation around? After all, those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it, no matter how long they continue to hold fast.

A wise man once told me that repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. Two years later, normal seems a long way down the road and will never be in reach if we continue to hide from the virus instead of getting on with life and learning to live with the virus.

Roger Haynes

St. John’s