Is Ontario ready to ‘live with COVID-19’?

The majority of Ontario’s pandemic restrictions have now been lifted and it seems, as politicians and health experts have predicted, the population is starting to “learn to live with COVID-19.”

But what does that really mean? Is Canada, or even Ontario, truly in a position to go about life as normal? What does this mean for those who are immunocompromised? Doe this mean the pandemic is over?

The phrase “learn to live with COVID-19” was first used in Ontario by Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore in late January.

"We have let our lives be controlled for the last two years in a significant amount of fear and now we are going to have to change some of that thinking," he said at the time.

"I think we have to start to understand we have to learn to live with this virus.”

The phrase has since been used by other health officials and politicians as Ontario inches further into its reopening.

On this week’s episode of Life Unmasked, the team speaks with Dr. Peter Jüni, the scientific director of Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, about what it really means to “live with COVID-19.”

He stressed that while public health trends have improved over the past few months, the pandemic is not over and that a cautious approach is still necessary. It's possible, Jüni warned, that measures such as masking and proof of vaccination may need to be implemented again if a new variant of concern is identified or if the province’s health-care system is burdened.

This is the last regularly scheduled episode of Life Unmasked, but the podcast team will be back to address your questions should there be a significant development in the pandemic.

Old episodes of Life Unmasked can be found on the iHeart radio app and other podcast streaming platforms. If you have a question about COVID-19 or want to reach the team, send an email to [e-mail].