A year after COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic, an Ontario infectious disease specialist has a more positive outlook for the future, as vaccines continue to receive authorization and deliver.
“I think that, in the big picture, we have our ticket to get out of the pandemic,” said infectious disease doctor Dr. Sumon Chakrabarti Yahoo Canada. “Now it’s in our hands and goes into our arms, so to speak.”
“In the fall, even though we see an increase in the number of cases, we have protection against death and hospitalization. Therefore, we will not constantly have this fear that the blockade will be maintained on us … We are almost there and we should have a positive view of what will happen in the coming months. “
A COVID-19 lesson that Canada cannot forget
Standing at the forefront of this pandemic last year, Dr. Chakrabarti identified that COVID-19 revealed the importance of clear messages, particularly when there is evolving knowledge. Dr. Chakrabarti said that clear messages are an aspect of the response to the pandemic that has not always been adequate, particularly in Ontario.
“There have been a lot of confusing messages, a lot of alarmists, a lot of wiggling, but I think if we do more positive messages, going to the source of the problem and less blaming people, I think it may have been a lot more useful,” he explained. he.
“I think in the future, I hope we don’t have another pandemic, but if we do, having that kind of learning would be very important to be able to treat the pandemic from a medical point of view, but also to receive good and effective messages for the public. “
In terms of our pandemic message, Dr. Chakrabarti would give this aspect of the COVID-19 response in about five out of ten.
“What I think was the problem is that there were a lot of guilt-based messages, putting the burden on the person,” he said.
“Of course, it was our responsibility to try to keep our risk as low as possible by reducing our contacts, but when things were not going well, there was a lot to tell people to stay at home, stay at home, stay at home, where now, in In retrospect, there are many other problems that were not being addressed, such as transmission in the workplace, the chain of transmission from the workplace to the home, long-term care, and these are things that would not have been affected by the block or the warning people to stay at home. “
While Dr. Chakrabarti certainly understands Ontario’s response better, he identified that BC’s COVID-19 response, specifically the provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry’s message style, was “much better.”
“I’m not saying that things were perfect in BC either, but I think those are the types of things that are important,” he said.
“Going forward, if we ever have a pandemic again or even some kind of outbreak across the country, it is important that we really focus on the areas to be protected first and the vulnerable areas, such as long-term care, living environments, and also essential workplaces. These are the areas that we really need to focus on and protect better. “
From a medical point of view, Dr. Chakrabarti would give the pandemic a response of about seven in ten.
“What happened in long-term care was a tragedy and it is still happening [but] it was totally avoidable, “he said.
“There were some aspects, I think, that were done well, … getting our PPE levels, getting infection control in hospitals, being able to implement new treatments, I think all of those things were pretty good.”
The most challenging moment of the COVID-19 pandemic
Looking back over the past year, Dr. Chakrabarti identified that the beginning was the most challenging time for him, when COVID-19 cases were being detected and it was not yet fully known how it would affect people in Ontario and everywhere in Canada .
“That was, I think, quite scary because people at the same time were very nervous, not really listening to the recommendations, wanting to do a lot more than we were recommending,” he said. “It was very difficult, but as soon as we got over that obstacle, not to say that we were complacent, we kind of understood what the disease was about.”
“It was very useful, people’s expectations were met, people were much less nervous and things got a lot easier, even when something like a second wave came.”
Moving forward, Dr. Chakrabarti explained that thinking about COVID-19 vaccines to prevent serious diseases is the way to look to the future, not necessarily to eradicate COVID-19.
“One thing with respiratory viruses, … they are viruses that you cannot eradicate, it is natural that they are circulating in the environment and in temperate climates like ours, we tend to see them in winter and I hope that this will happen with COVID- 19 too “, he explained.
“Vaccination, what she’s doing are two things … preventing serious illness, death and being hospitalized and potentially put on a respirator, and it’s helping us to cut the transmission across the population. So when you put these two together things, our goal is not to get rid of it, we can never get rid of it, but to make sure it’s nothing serious. “