Canada needs to adopt a ‘more sustainable’ approach to COVID-19, Tam says – CBC

‘We do need to get back to some normalcy,’ chief public health officer says

Feb 04, 2022

Canada’s top doctor said today the country needs to find a more “sustainable” way to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and future variants of the virus.

Speaking to reporters at the weekly public health briefing, Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said all existing public health policies, including provincial vaccine passports, need to be “re-examined” in the coming weeks — because it’s clear now that Canada and the rest of the world will be grappling with this virus for months or years to come.

“What we need to do going forward, as we emerge out of this Omicron wave, is recognize this virus is not going to disappear. We need to be able to address the ongoing presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in a more sustainable way,” Tam said.

“Further waves will occur. Some will be quite severe and disruptive and we need to be ready for them. But we do need to have longer-term, sustained approaches and capacity-building so we’re not in a crisis mode all the time as we fight this virus.”

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-more-sustainable-covid-response-1.6339609