COVID-19 is not done yet

So, April arrives, a chill yet in the air, a stubborn virus, too. And an unsettling dissonance.

Political leaders, none more than Premier Doug Ford, who faces an imminent provincial election, have already as much as declared the COVID-19 pandemic over. The virus, however, begs to differ. And a citizenry is both concerned and confused.

Ford has more or less washed his hands of the matter, lifted public-health measures and told the public to manage things themselves — even as the tools to do so are being withdrawn.

Less collecting and sharing of data. No regular expert briefings. Until the latest surge in COVID cases became clear this week and the head of Ontario’s Science Advisory Table confirmed that we’re already in the midst of a sixth wave, the province was even set to stop supplying free rapid testing kits. Chastened, it now plans to distribute them until at least the end of July.

But while the premier was sick of masks and gung-ho about reopening, Ontarians have been suspecting, if only from the number of acquaintances who have recently caught COVID, that the virus isn’t done with us just yet.

Science, data and medical experts support that conclusion, reporting rising spread of the BA.2 variant, increased COVID caseloads and, as surely as night follows day, they say, increased hospitalizations and deaths to come.

Dr. Peter Juni, head of the science table, urges Ontarians to be cautious about easing up on safety measures to ensure the upward slope of the current wave is “not too steep.” But the surge, Juni cautions, is “entirely our responsibility … We just got a little too much ahead of ourselves and here we are.”

Soon enough, we may find ourselves in yet another mess of our own making — too obtuse to recognize patterns, to see through political opportunism, to put the common good ahead of magical thinking and particular notions of freedom.

Across Canada, provincial leaders seemed to be in a race to lift protections and declare COVID-19 beaten, even as it continued to pack a wallop.

This week, a University of Regina public health professor eviscerated those leaders, in as cleverly gentle a way possible, for their lack of backbone on COVID.

“It’s not easy imposing policies on people and policy-makers are human beings and sometimes find that hard to do,” Cheryl Camillo told CBC News. “So we need to help them do what’s right and to lead, and in this case lead to protect us.”

As it stands, their unwillingness may send us reeling backwards. In the United States, presidential adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci was warning this week that Americans need to be prepared for another round of COVID restrictions, particularly a requirement to wear masks indoor. Some other countries, including China, Britain and Germany, are seeing a dramatic rise in cases.

With hospitalizations soaring, health experts across Canada are advising people to keep wearing masks in public as this latest wave sweeps over us.

The initial campaign for booster shots has stalled, with just less than half of Ontarians getting their third dose. In recent weeks, the push to get that number higher has effectively fizzled out.

It’s time to renew the campaign for third shots, and indeed to move ahead with fourth doses, starting with the vulnerable elderly and immune-compromised, as the protection provided by previous doses wanes.

In the United States, the Federal Drug Administration and other top health authorities have already given the green light to fourth doses of the Pfizer vaccine for anyone over 50, or over 12 with a compromised immune system. In Canada, though, the message from the experts about fourth doses is still unclear.

But as we hesitate, the virus marches on. The case for action was succinctly made this week in a tweet by Dr. Michael Warner of Michael Garron Hospital in Toronto. The last time Ontario waited to see how bad things got, he said, it ended with capacity restrictions and keeping schools closed.

“Now is the time to: promote and ramp up shot 3 (&4), encourage shot 1&2 for (ages) 5-11, put masks back on,” he went on.

It’s a sensible prescription. Provincial leaders may prefer to announce new battery plants and transit projects, but COVID is still very much around and their first responsibility is to ensure public safety. By now, surely, we’ve learned that letting our guard down doesn’t lead to anything good.