Canada no longer at COVID-19’s mercy but new variants could arise: experts

As the COVID-19 pandemic stretches into a third year, many experts are expressing cautious optimism that Canada has passed the need for lockdowns and widespread safety protocols.

As the COVID-19 pandemic stretches into a third year, many experts are expressing cautious optimism that Canada has passed the need for lockdowns and the widespread safety protocols that marked much of the last 24 months.

But after two years of dealing with an unpredictable virus, they also say we should be ready to adapt at any moment.

While hospitalizations and other pandemic markers appear to have dipped or stabilized throughout the country, virologist Jason Kindrachuk says the COVID-19 crisis can’t be considered over until it subsides across the globe.

“The history of COVID-19 tells us we should be preparing for the potential of another variant of concern…. Let’s at least be appreciative that we’ve been in this situation before,” says Kindrachuk, an assistant professor at the University of Manitoba.

“None of us want to take a step forward and end up having to take five or 10 steps backwards because we get hit with what comes next.”

Jurisdictions began lifting public health measures over the last month, axing gathering limits, vaccine passports and mask mandates.

Ontario’s masking policy is set to end in most indoor places on March 21- two years to the day that the U.S.-Canada border closed to non-essential travel as the original SARS-CoV-2 strain spread.

Several pandemic anniversaries are at hand this week as many Canadians reflect on the events from March 2020 that changed the perception of the virus from a faraway unknown into a real threat in North America.