This is a Nova Scotia specific tweet. And another opportunity for Nova Scotians to continue to help, support and educate the people most vulnerable to COVID. People are still coming to our hospitals with very bad COVID lung disease. Older people. With medical problems.

WE CAN HELP PREVENT THAT.

When these people reach our doors, most don’t know they have COVID because they haven’t tested.

It’s time to talk about a few things….namely, how we continue to manage our personal risk of respiratory virus exposure and how we can also protect those around us (tomorrow’s post will be focus on what happens if you are actually sick).

I think this is practical. Not perfect. Since there’s a lot of commentary out there on masks and gatherings , I am going to focus tgere. But to be clear, vaccines are still important to protect yourself and others.

We are in a ‘reduce risk’ world, not a ‘no risk’ world. Here’s one reasonable approach to that.

So, many people have been asking why it is useful to still limit contacts, test where possible, wear a mask and be discretionary in limiting to ‘most needed’ contacts and events for a while….it reduces risk to those around you if you do get COVID. Here’s an example. 1/7 I’m a health care worker and have vulnerable friends and family. So, to reduce my chances of being away from work with COVID or inadvertently infecting those around me I really try to ask my (few) contacts to see me less, reduce their contacts, and test. 2/7

important information….never have I doubted that our immune system (over time) will help us manage SARS-CoV-2 long term. 2 important caveats to overextending the usefulness of these data for population level policy approaches over next months:

https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1501773203261165570

1. Your immune system is a pattern/shape recognizer and the virus seems to still be in significant shape shifting mode to date. That means the strength of our pattern based immunity protection may change quickly.

Some current pandemic facts, uncertainties, and phrases/statements people are linking by association to changes in public health measures. (1/11) We are still in a pandemic. Yes, it’s true. A virus capable of causing illness and death in a significant proportion of the population is still circulating in all countries. (2/11)

People keep throwing their hands up and say ‘this is going to continue forever!!
Why do I say things will very likely be significantly different / better after this spring? Several key things: 1. Children will have the opportunity to be vaccinated, taking away a large group of immunologically naive people that cohort together socially.

Here’s a phrase we need to start familiarizing ourselves with (again, for those of us around long enough): community viral load. There are times when it matters how much asymptomatic virus is around even if not causing disease. Community viral load refers to the overall level of virus in a community, regardless (and perhaps especially if it doesn’t cause) symptoms. It’s Impt when there are discrete groups of susceptible individuals ESPECIALLY with no symptom infections. Gets away from each case.

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.

Nova Scotia: public health may be a little longer getting in touch with people for the next few days. They are really and truly doing an amazing job but there is some trouble getting everything done quickly right now. As Nova Scotians, we can help them and each other get this COVID-21 controlled.

Please don’t get frustrated, upset or angry. (Well, you can, it’s been a long year) BUT here are some ways to take control and be proactive!!