Sonia Furstenau and David Fisman: Public health agencies are abandoning responsibility for public health while we are still in a global pandemic

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In the sixth wave of the COVID pandemic, British Columbians have been left to their own devices, when what we need is for the provincial government to step up.

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In a recent article, BC’s Weekly COVID-19 data reporting leaves public in the dark about next Omicron wave, Dr. Brian Conway, medical director of the Vancouver Infectious Diseases Centre, states that “BC has shifted to a pandemic management strategy where personal responsibility rather than government mandates dictates our behaviour… so let’s not rely on public health to tell us what to do to, provide us with hard and fast rules, to provide us with statistics. They have chosen to stop doing that.”

It is astonishing to think that public health agencies are abandoning responsibility for public health while we are still in a global pandemic. We can no longer expect data collection, communication, and guidance. Just last week, Dr. Theresa Tam stated that Canada is in the sixth wave of COVID. Yet, here in BC, there is limited data on hospitalizations and deaths, now only released weekly, and little specific guidance on how to avoid infection.

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If you have only followed the province’s updates for the last two years, you are also unlikely to be informed about Long-COVID. While our provincial governments are not highlighting this, data suggests that one in four children will experience longer-term symptomsafter even a mild COVID infection.

With each wave of acute illness, more people of all ages are left struggling with ongoing symptoms and chronic illness. A growing volume of research points to serious long-term health effects from COVID, including ongoing fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pain, and memory problems.

The toll of this disease is not limited to those who experience severe infection. It is not measured only in lives lost. It is a growing toll on our communities and our economies.

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Wave after wave, responses from public health agencies and most provincial governments have been reactive. Mandates and restrictions were brought in eleven hospitals and the health-care system started to buckle under pressure. This exacerbates the ripple effect of COVID.

Health-care workers describe being burnt out. Patients are not getting surgeries that they need. Waves of acute illness mean more people are away from work more often, resulting in recurring disruptions to businesses and services.

In a recent Financial Times articleLong-COVID is described as “a disaster in the making for businesses and economies — potentially pushing significant numbers of people out of labor markets where employers are already struggling to hire.”

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Consider diseases of the past. Prior to 1912, the most common cause of death in Toronto was waterborne typhoid, and the age group at highest risk of mortality was children under the age of five. Toronto decided to do things differently — filtration and chlorination of drinking water were introduced, and by 1917 typhoid cases had dropped by a factor of 100. We can do the same to COVID and other respiratory viruses, but we need to follow science and we need the political will to act.

COVID is an airborne virus, and we must focus our efforts on ensuring that indoor spaces are not environments where the virus can linger and infect people.

What steps do we need to see from our governments?

We need them to tell the truth about COVID. Start with a concerted public education campaign so that everyone understands the science of how COVID is transmitted, and the most effective ways to avoid infections. Make N95s widely and freely available. Continue to provide free rapid tests so that people can know when they are a risk to others. Collect the data from these tests and keep people informed of the level of infection in their communities.

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When it comes to health, knowledge is essential for people to make informed decisions.

Governments also need to set standards and implement effective measures for indoor air quality: invest in ventilation upgrades, filtration systems, and high-room UV lights in all public buildings, including schools, universities, and government offices; and provide immediate support to businesses to invest in these air quality upgrades, particularly restaurants and other settings where people gather and mingle.

We need to be re-oriented toward a collective mission to suppress this virus in our communities, and measure, trace and report the data as a means for the public to share the burden of reducing illness and protect the most vulnerable in our communities.

Let’s clear the air, so that we can live with, rather than be sick with, COVID.

Sonia Furstenau is leader of the BC Green Party and the MLA for Cowichan; David Fisman is an epidemiologist and professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health in Toronto.

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