Infectious disease experts urge caution as pandemic restrictions eased

In bars and clubs across Metro Vancouver, excited revellers celebrated St. Patrick’s Day for the first time since the pandemic began by singing and dancing in close quarters.

With most pandemic restrictions out of the way, there were few masks to be seen, and social distancing was all but non-existent.

“This is exactly the setting where we need to be a bit careful,” said Dr. Brian Conway of the Vancouver Infectious Disease Centre.

“A lot of people crowded indoors for an extended period of time, and singing and shouting certainly doesn’t help."

Vancouver police report no major incidents arising from the celebration, but it’s the potential impact on COVID-19 progress that could prove to be a problem.

“There are no data available. And we fully expect that with the loosening of all public health measures that the numbers would creep up. We’re not keeping track of them,” said Conway. “I think we need to be reminded again and again that it’s not over.”

Some jurisdictions in Europe and Asia are now seeing their highest case counts since the start of the pandemic thanks to the BA.2 a sub-lineage of the Omicron variant.

"While evidence suggests BA.2 is more transmissible than BA.1, BA.2 does not appear to be associated with more severe illness in vaccinated populations,” said Dr. Teresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer.

With well over 90 per cent of the population double-dosed, Vancouver has one of the highest vaccination rates of any major city in the world.

Time and time again, this pandemic has proven to be very unpredictable, and with the local economy roaring back to life, the last thing businesses want to see is another setback.

“We do have to always follow the provincial health orders and make sure we are always conscious of what we’ve been through in the last two years and we don’t want that to come back,” said Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart. “But could I say I’m cautiously very optimistic about how things are looking.”

Without daily case counts to rely on, infectious disease experts will be closely monitoring hospitalizations to measure B.C.’s pandemic progress.