Let’s not play Russian roulette with Omicron and embrace it as inevitable – CBC.ca

This column is an opinion from Dr. Cory Neudorf,an interim senior medical health officer with the Saskatchewan Health Authority. For more information aboutCBC's Opinion section, please see theFAQ.

Waves of COVID-19 keep coming with disturbing frequency, wearing down even those who have followed public health advice up to now. Despite warnings that the pandemic would likely last twoto threeyears with multiple surges requiring an ebb and flow of restrictions,many people feel we should be back to normal with the availability of vaccines, and are feeling something akin to buyer'sremorse at this stage.

More transmissible COVID-19 variants have poked holes in our layers of defence, finding ways to get around masks and vaccines in some cases and taking advantage of our need for increased social connection. Due to its billing as a less severe form of COVID-19, is it any wonder that the Omicron variant wave is tempting us to just "get it over with already" and resign ourselves to getting sick?

Unfortunately, science and sober second thought shows us that is likely not a good idea. Eventually, we hope to be able to live with COVID-19 in a more endemic state, with some combination of a less severe variant and sufficient population immunity but we aren't quite there yet.

Here are a few reasons why it may not be a great idea to "get it over with" and catch the Omicron variant of COVID-19:

Intentionally exposing yourself to any disease is like playing Russian roulette. You don't know if you or those more vulnerable around you will get complications. While it is more transmissible, the Omicron variant is still stopped by the measures that have worked for previous waves, we just need to be more vigilant.

In addition, we are fortunate to have vaccines that are effective and safe against all current COVID variants with a booster dose, protecting many against infection and protecting most from severe disease if they happen to get breakthrough illness.

There is no need for returning to the full lockdowns that were required prior to vaccines, as long as people adhere to public health measures during these resurgences and get booster doses as needed.

Eventually, these waves will recede. They will resolve faster if we continue to use common sense, and think beyond ourselves for the good of our community, especially as more of the global population is immunized. We have come too far to quit before we get to the finish line.

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Let's not play Russian roulette with Omicron and embrace it as inevitable - CBC.ca