At the beginning of the year 2022, the theme on everyone’s lips was “learning to live with the virus” of COVID-19. Twelve months later, we see that living with a potentially deadly virus is proving to be quite stormy and that the consequences can be serious.
After two years of fierce struggle against successive waves of infections with strong blows of restrictive measures of all kinds, political leaders have called for the adoption of a “new normal” by adapting our behavior to the presence of the SARS CoV.-2 virus.
Therefore, despite the meteoric diffusion of the Omicron variant and the sub-variants that followed, public health has announced relaxations of its restrictions starting from the end of January. The end of the mask requirement in public places will then come in the spring.
In response, several experts have regularly called for caution, fearing that the population will interpret this “new normal” as a mere return to life as before. In fact, wearing a mask has been largely neglected and the triple epidemic of the autumn (COVID-19, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus) suggests that many people continue to adopt risky behaviors when exhibiting flu symptoms.
Data collected by the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) confirms that “living with the virus” leads to greater exposure to risk and many more infections. As of December 18, there were 633,802 confirmed infections in 2022, almost the equivalent of the first two years of the pandemic combined (641,777 cases). A number all the more spectacular as access to screening tests has been limited since the beginning of the year.
Consistently, the number of hospitalizations related to COVID-19 has also increased. As of December 18, it stood at 49,590 new hospitalizations, more than in the first two years of the health crisis (30,043 hospitalizations).
Then, as the number of hospitalized patients increases, so does the number of deaths. As of Dec. 18, 5,688 Quebecers succumbed to COVID-19 in 2022, which represents an increase from 2021.
Forgotten lessons
In the eyes of the professor of social and preventive medicine at the School of Public Health of the University of Montreal, Benoît Mâsse, there are clearly “things we have not learned”. He is concerned about the reaction times of the authorities to the increase in flu cases this autumn, when we should have developed better reflexes after two years of the pandemic.
“If there’s one thing we should have learned, it’s that we shouldn’t wait until the emergency room is full to take action,” he laments.
On an individual level, Quebecers also need to adjust their behavior for coexistence to work.
“Each of us is responsible for reducing community transmission, the virologist insists. If you have symptoms you must stay at home, if you have the slightest doubt that you are contagious you must isolate yourself. »
Wearing a mask must also be part of the equation and become a common gesture in public places when symptoms or concerns arise.
“These aren’t reflexes we had before, but it’s living with the virus,” he insists, admitting that changes in social behavior take time. Over the generations we have seen campaigns against smoking, against drink driving or in favor of wearing seat belts. Each time, progress was observed over long periods of time.
Live with the consequences
The adaptation of daily life is not the only drawback of the “new normal”, as Benoît Mâsse points out: “To live with the virus is also to live with the consequences. And one of the serious consequences takes the form of an epidemic of chronic disease within the viral pandemic.
More and more health experts and political leaders are concerned about the chronic form of COVID-19 commonly referred to as long-term COVID.
In publishing a preview of the upcoming Post-COVID-19 Condition Task Force report on December 14, the Chief Science Advisor of Canada revealed that 1.4 million Canadians have reported long-term COVID symptoms distant.
The Dref. Mona Nemer confirmed that more and more people report suffering from body aches, shortness of breath, extreme tiredness, mental fog, gastrointestinal discomfort or heart palpitations, among other things, more than a month after contracting a SARS CoV virus infection -2 .
If we still don’t know the mechanisms that lead to the development of the chronic form, we know that women are at twice the risk compared to men and that this condition disrupts the lives of patients.
“People have reported feeling trapped in their bodies, isolated and misunderstood by those around them. Many have had difficulty getting help or services. Most have lost their jobs due to this disability,” said Drref. Nemer at the press conference.
Citing estimates from the United States, he said ten million people with long-term COVID would cost society an estimated $3.7 trillion in lost quality of life, lost income and burden on the healthcare system.
In a recent study published in the Journal of the Association for Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada, Dr.r Alain Piché and his colleagues at the University of Sherbrooke demonstrated a high prevalence of long-lasting COVID in people infected with Omicron lineage subvariants.
These researchers observed that 47.2 percent of their study participants still had symptoms more than a month after testing positive for COVID-19. This is alarming data as subvariants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 have become the most virulent strain. Two newcomers from the big Omicron family.
The year 2023 could therefore seem like a variation on the same theme, as we will have to learn to live with the long COVID.
Canadian Press health content obtains funding through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. The Canadian Press bears sole responsibility for editorial choices.
