‘Race against time’: Shahab urges vigilance, vaccinations in face of COVID variants

As COVID-19 variants of concern start to show up with greater frequency, Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer warns the province is in “a race against time.”

Dr. Saqib Shahab said it’s important to slow the spread of the virus as much as possible and keep case numbers down.

“I think we should do everything we can to shield people who are older, who are more vulnerable, so that they can successfully get vaccinated,” Shahab said during a media conference Thursday.

Shahab said part of that is being vigilant with COVID precautions like washing hands and keeping an appropriate distance from each other. He said that will also help keep COVID variants from spreading and becoming the dominant strain.

Shahab explained some of the variants are more transmissible, so if they become more dominant, then that could require more strict public health measures. But he also pointed to the United Kingdom and Israel, where they launched vaccine programs during a wave of cases.

“And in two to three months they have shown a dramatic decrease in hospitalizations, deaths, and now overall cases, especially in ages 60 and over who have taken up the vaccine,” said Shahab.

Shahab pointed out if vaccinations can get hospitalizations down, that will help end the pandemic. He defined a pandemic as a situation which puts a lot of pressure on a health-care system.

There’s no way to predict the future six to nine months out.

“The best we can hope for is a high vaccine uptake that takes the sharp edge off the pandemic,” said Shahab.

If and when the province can get out of the pandemic, Shahab said there still may be issues with COVID as a virus — but health officials can hopefully relax some of the restrictions.

Right now, Shahab said the focus is on getting people vaccinated.