Dr Luc Boileau isn’t saying there will be a sixth wave of Covid, but he says it’s very likely. But he isn’t introducing any new sanitary measures. Experts keep bandying the notion of living with the virus but not mentioning that this means continuing to keep distances and be masked, work at home if you can, and not think it means dropping all contagion concern and going back to status quo ante. Politicians don’t want to say in so many words that everything changed for good in March 2020. We still haven’t got the full measure of what long Covid entails.
Update: To quote Christopher Curtis: “The Qc government calling a press conference on a Sunday morning to announce that we’re not in the midst of a sixth wave seems like a sure sign we’re in the midst of a sixth wave.”
carswell 13:52 on 2022-03-27 Permalink
And Dr.
Legault puppetBoileau exhorts people at risk to take the necessary precautions even as he refuses to let non-invalid seniors whose third shot was eight or more months ago to get a fourth.Vax manufacturers now recommend a fourth shot as do many European countries. The States are reportedly gearing up to offer one to anyone over 50 who wants it.
Meanwhile a January 17th La Presse article quotes a Ministère de la Santé et Services sociaux official as saying “Et, oui, M. St-Pierre, comme toutes les autres personnes dont la dernière dose remonte à plus de trois mois, est admissible à une dose de rappel … Dans son dernier avis le Comité sur l’immunisation du Québec permet à ces personnes de recevoir une « quatrième dose », pourvu qu’elles sachent qu’il existe encore des incertitutdes sur les bénéfices et les risques associés à l’administration d’une telle dose de rappel.”
I’ve gone to vax clinics and pharmacies. I’ve called the Santé Québec hotline. I’ve offered to pay. My physician is alarmed and would prescribe me one. But the government says no, condescendingly of late. So the message to people like me is remain in semi-isolation for the foreseeable future or “plan on getting sick and good luck with the hospitals if you have the misfortune to end up there”? What a bunch of fuck-ups.
mare 17:23 on 2022-03-27 Permalink
I’m surprised that regular rapid testing is not part of the “living with Covid” strategy. Everyone we let into our house this year (only a few people so far) had to do a test first, and even then I stayed masked. I’m high risk and pretty vigilant, but I do go grocery shopping sometimes, wearing a KF94. Haven’t been in a restaurant for two years.
Can’t wait for the summer so I can meet people outside again.
Mr.Chinaski 18:53 on 2022-03-27 Permalink
Normal masks (so 99.9% of what people wear) are useless for Omicron. They should drop them now, why wait for the 15th? It’s only theater…
Kate 19:00 on 2022-03-27 Permalink
Masks serve a social purpose, though. If you’re masked and near others in masks, it reminds everyone to keep some distance. Yes, it’s socially isolating to some extent, but that’s how it has to be.
carswell 19:54 on 2022-03-27 Permalink
The smart thing to do would be to widely distribute N-95-type masks free of charge and insist they be worn. I had to take a bus twice this week and found the ignoring of mask guidelines by many passengers, some of whom removed them entirely before they sat down, harrowing. Ended up disembarking 15 minutes before my stop and walking the rest of the way.
It’s going to complicate my life and cost me more but I don’t plan to get on another STM bus in the foreseeable future.
Mr.Chinaksi 20:11 on 2022-03-27 Permalink
Yeah lets ask all men to shave to wear a N-95 properly : it wont happen. 3-ply masks did work, now they don’t anymore. To keep them is only theater.
Also, Kate you said they serve a social purpose: they did, but not anymore. Omicron (ba.1 and ba.2) is proving that the virus is too virulent and masks are useless whatever distance you may be. The only logical place is tight spots (hence public transports, which I do think is necessary for a couple more weeks) and hospitals/long care residencies.
carswell 20:26 on 2022-03-27 Permalink
In January I shaved off my beard for the first time in 30 years. So yeah, no probs with that.
Just about all trustworthy sources I see — including epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists — are adamant that N95s are effective, including against BA.2. But hey, world authority Mr.Chinaski’s unsubstantiated claims mean it’s all theatre, so they must be crisis actors. Thanks for clarifying.
Mr.Chinaski 21:02 on 2022-03-27 Permalink
I never said N95 won’t work (they would!), I said people won’t shave and won’t put it properly. It’s pretty obvious, just look at how people can’t even wear a 3-ply mask over their nose.
3-ply or cloth mask are used by almost everybody (easily >95% of the population), they are useless with Omicron ba.1 and ba.2, that’s a fact. Wearing them outside of public transports, hospitals or long-term care is only theater.
Heck in only 20 days from now we’re gonna exactly do that (you know, like the 300+ million people around us in Canada/USA are already doing)
Kevin 23:24 on 2022-03-27 Permalink
The infectious disease experts I know all wear N95 or procedure masks when dealing with patients and everywhere they go.
They are also all triple vaxxed and minimizing contacts and using ventilation.
Quiver full of arrows, no silver bullets.
Tim S. 08:13 on 2022-03-28 Permalink
“just look at how people can’t even wear a 3-ply mask over their nose.” Now that I’m back to working in person, I’m in closeish contact with up to 120+ people a day, and maybe 3-4 of them don’t wear a mask properly.
And so far cases but no outbreaks among them. Fingers crossed.
MarcG 08:27 on 2022-03-28 Permalink
The job of the government during a health crisis should be effectively relay the advice of medical professionals, which at the moment is: get vaccinated, keep masks on, improve the masks, improve ventilation. The reason people “can’t” do things is because they can’t see the reason to – if it’s explained properly why they should, they’ll do it.
j2 11:52 on 2022-03-28 Permalink
MarcG, I 100% agree but maybe that ship has sailed. It wouldn’t be politically expedient at this point. (Eyeroll emoji.)
Mr.Chinaski: It may be that the effectiveness has dropped vastly but clearly something is better than nothing. Redirecting airflow might help in brief encounters. Maybe that’s only single-digit percentage better. And maybe it’s easy to increase that number eg by layering especially to improve the seal. But single-digit % less people in the hospital for COVID sounds good to me.
Kevin 15:54 on 2022-03-28 Permalink
MarcG
The government’s job is to get re-elected in October. It’s decided the best way to do this is to pretend the pandemic is over and to shift the blame onto citizens if they get sick and die.
To emphasize that it’s all your fault if you get sick, the government is:
a) eliminating testing so you can’t even figure out how many people have the disease https://twitter.com/MoriartyLab/status/1508443120115015690 ;
b) eliminating the Vaccine passport, so restaurants and stores can’t even check on your status if they wanted to;
c) failing to promote boosters, even though growing evidence indicates that an Omicron infection provides no immunity from future infection;
d) telling people they don’t need masks anymore when in public even though mass mask-wearing is one of the most effective ways of limiting the spread of the disease; and
e) actively denying we are in a new wave even as the province has the highest number of people in hospital (absolute, not just per capita) with Covid-19 in the entire country.
This government does not care about you. It never has.
MarcG 16:24 on 2022-03-28 Permalink
That’s based on the assumption that this approach is appealing to their voters. I guess their polling backs that up, but who are these people?