Thread by @LisaBarrettID

Why am I such a proponent of limiting virus for the next few months instead of going for a ‘usual respiratory virus’ plan? To be clear, I want to limit virus but not people. But too early for respiratory virus ‘business as usual’ yet. @PHAC_GC @JustinTrudeau

1. We have amazing tools for COVID prevention beyond isolation and lockdown. Broad and innovative implementation of rapid tests, basic respiratory hygiene, and masks are easy, socially enably tools that work. Paid sick days also extremely important.

2. There’s some reasonable signal that even those who don’t become extremely ill may have long term sequelae. We don’t fully know or understand this, but it does seem more marked and present than with other respiratory viruses.

2. (Con’t) and we don’t know how frequent or morbid these findings are after vaccination. So, until we know a little more about this, I’m loathe to say ‘as long as it’s just the sniffles not affecting our health care system capacity, let the virus ride’

3. There are vaccinated vulnerable. To protect vaccinated vulnerable, you keep virus low around them. That means knowing where virus is and asking those with infection to mask and test. Might help to keep doing testing and contact tracing too!

This isn’t hard. We are already doing these things. Limiting virus not people, learning more over the next few months, and doing easy things to limit harm while we understand clinical scenarios better is important.

‘Cases’ are people. We don’t truly understand and predict clinical scenarios with COVID yet, we don’t have good treatments yet, so why not keep the masking, testing along with our very effective vaccines until we know more about morbidity? #limitvirusnotpeople

I know this differs from other colleagues opinions - discussion in these grey zones is healthy, needed, and important. Love to hear other opinions from colleagues and Canadians! @AntibioticDoc @BogochIsaac @TorontoIDDoc @CTVNews @CBCNews @ianhanomansing @picardonhealth

@carolemacneil @zchagla @AshTuite @DFisman @SandroDemaio @sdbaral @petermansbridge