Tuesday July 14, 2020 ~ OTTAWA | NATIONAL
by Mary Brooke, B.Sc., Editor | West Shore Voice News
Natural immunity to the COVID-19 coronavirus in people who have experienced COVID-19 infection lasts only a few weeks or a few months, says Dr. Howard Njoo Deputy Chief Public Health Officer with the Public Health Agency of Canada.
That is the evidence so far, said Dr Njoo in a news briefing today July 14 in Ottawa.
Today Dr Njoo said that a vaccine won’t be available until at least 2021, and that effectiveness of a vaccine will of course be important.
So far, health officials have not indicated how a vaccine will be more effective than natural immunity.
Living the new mid-COVID normal:
In the meantime, everyone is living ‘the new normal’, with Dr Njoo reinforcing the message about “the three C’s” — avoiding close contact, avoiding closed spaces, and crowds.
In BC, Provincial Health Office Dr Bonnie Henry has also been delivering the 3-Cs message in the last week or so.
Wearing a mask indoors:
The messaging about wearing a mask has evolved over the course of the pandemic so far. Dr Njoo feels that wearing a mask indoors when physical distancing of 2 metres cannot be maintained is what people now need to do to help prevent spread of the COVID-19 virus.
He notes that Quebec has now made it mandatory to wear a mask indoors. Last week the City of Toronto also made it obligatory to wear a mask indoors.
First wave comments:
Back on March 22 as the pandemic raged in its first wave, Dr Njoo was already saying that public health officials anticipate a possible second COVID-19 wave over the fall and winter.
As for communication about COVID-19: “As with all of us, open discussion helps children sort fact from fiction,” said Dr Njoo on April 14.
Governments both federal and provincial held daily briefings about COVID-19 in the first phase of the pandemic (from about February to early May), and lately have pulled back on frequency but ramped up on reminders.
===== About the writer:
Mary P Brooke, B.Sc. is the editor of West Shore Voice News. She has been following the news of COVID-19 non-stop since the start of the pandemic this year.