A year after COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic, an infectious disease designer in Ontario has a more positive outlook for the future as vaccines continue to be approved and distributed.
“I think we have a ticket from the pandemic as a whole,” said Dr. Sumon Chakrabarti, Dr. Sumon Chakrabarti, said. Yahoo Canada. “It’s in our hands now and it’s going into our arms, so to speak.”
‘In the autumn, even though we are seeing an increase in the number of cases, we have protection against death and hospitalization. So we will not constantly keep this fear of locking over us … We are almost there and we need to have a positive outlook on what is going to happen in the next few months. ‘
A lesson from COVID-19 that Canada can not forget
Dr Chakrabarti has been at the forefront of this pandemic over the past year and has identified COVID-19 as highlighting the importance of clear messages, especially as knowledge develops. Dr. Chakrabarti said clear messages are one aspect of the pandemic response that has not always been up to par, especially in Ontario.
“There were a lot of mixed messages, a lot of scaring, a lot of finger movements, while I think if we did more positive messages, go to the source of where the problem is and blame fewer people, I think it would have been a lot more useful,” he said. explain.
“I think we will hopefully not have another pandemic in the future, but if we do, it is very important to have this kind of learning to be able to treat the pandemic from a medical point of view, but also to be good and effective. to get messages to the public. “
As for our pandemic messages, dr. Chakrabarti gives the aspect of the COVID-19 answer about five out of ten.
“What I think the problem was was that there were a lot of blame-based messages, and that it had to put a lot of the person’s job,” he said.
‘Of course there was a responsibility for us to try to keep our risk as low as possible and reduce our contacts, but when things did not go right, there were a lot of people who said to stay home, stay home, home staying, where there are now retrospectively many other issues that are not addressed, such as the transfer of the workplace, the workplace to the domestic shipping chain, long-term care, and these are things that would not be affected by the closure or telling of people not. to stay at home. ‘
While dr. Chakrabarti certainly understands Ontario’s response best, he did identify that BC’s COVID-19 response, specifically the provincial health officer, dr. Bonnie Henry’s message style “was much better.”
“I also did not say that things were perfect in BC, but I think those are the types of things that are important,” he said.
“If we ever have a pandemic or even some kind of outbreak across the country again, it’s important for us to really focus on the areas to protect first and the vulnerable areas like long-term care, living environment, and also essential workplaces. are the areas we really, really need to focus on and better protect. ‘
From a medical point of view, dr. Chakrabarti gives the pandemic response about a seven out of ten.
“What happened in long-term care was a tragedy and it still happens [but] it was something that could have been completely prevented, ‘he said.
“I think there were certain aspects that were done well, … to get our PPE levels, to get infection control in hospitals, to introduce new treatments, I think these things were all pretty good.”
The most challenging time in the COVID-19 pandemic
Dr. Chakrabarti, who looks back on the past year, has identified that the beginning for him was the most difficult time when COVID-19 cases were detected and it was not yet fully known how it was going to affect people in Ontario and around. Canada.
“It was, I think, quite scary because people were nervous at the same time and did not really listen to the recommendations and wanted to do much more than we recommended,” he said. “It was very difficult, but as soon as we got to the hill, not to mention that we became complacent, we got a little bit of an understanding of what the disease was about.”
“It was very helpful, people’s expectations were met, people were much less nervous and things got a lot easier, even if something like a second wave came down.”
Dr. Chakrabarti further explained that thinking about COVID-19 vaccines preventing serious diseases is the way to look to the future, and not necessarily to eradicate COVID-19.
“One thing with respiratory viruses, … these are viruses you can not eradicate. It is natural that they circulate in the environment, and in temperate climates like ours we tend to see them in winter and I expect that to happen with COVID-19 as well, ‘he explained.
“The vaccination, which it does, is two things, … to prevent serious illness, death and hospitalization and possibly put them in a ventilator, and it helps us to reduce the spread of the population. If you take these two to sum things up, our goal is not to get rid of it, we can never get rid of it, but it is to make it so that it is nothing serious. ‘