High-risk Manitobans should be higher priority

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This article was published 11/10/2020 (1909 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If the Pallister government is planning to launch an aggressive messaging campaign to urge people to better protect the elderly and other vulnerable groups from contracting COVID-19, there’s no better time to start than now.

With deaths and hospitalizations from the novel coronavirus rising faster than they have since the beginning of the pandemic, it’s increasingly clear the province needs a more focused communications approach.

Even with added restrictions – including mandatory mask use indoors and gatherings of no more than 10 people – infection rates and active cases in Winnipeg continue to rise.

Dr. Brent Roussin, the province’s chief public health officer, and Premier Brian Pallister both hinted last week they’re considering rolling out a new messaging campaign aimed at better protecting the elderly and the immunocompromised from COVID-19.

However, there’s been no timeline on when that will occur.

“Do we do some more focus work with those groups and try to see what we can (do),” Roussin said Thursday when asked about a more risk-based communications strategy. “It’s definitely in the plans because messaging is certainly a big part of our response here.”

Pallister said it was a “fair point” when asked if the province plans to better protect those aged 70 and over from COVID-19, the demographic most likely to require a hospital bed and die from the disease.

“It is our seniors that are the most vulnerable,” said Pallister. “It is critical to remind each other all the time of the vulnerability, of deeper symptoms, of greater impact, among older people.”

Of the more than 9,600 people who have died from COVID-19 in Canada, 90 per cent were aged 70 and over (71 per cent were over 80). Of those hospitalized from the disease, 69 per cent were over 60.

The greatest proportion of new cases in Manitoba has been among younger people, particularly those aged 20 to 29. While all age groups have some risk of becoming severely ill from the disease, said Roussin, that risk is far lower for those under 65, especially people without underlying health conditions.

“I’m not aware of any death in a person who was completely well before,” said Roussin of Manitoba’s COVID-19 deaths.

To date, the province has done little to distinguish between high-risk and low-risk groups in its pandemic messaging. Information cards mailed to households last week remind people to stick to the fundamentals. But they’re silent on the need to exercise additional caution around vulnerable groups. There is some mention of that on the Manitoba government website. However, there has been little effort to provide the public with specific advice on how to better protect the elderly (the majority of whom live outside of personal care homes).

The province has instead focused on limiting the spread of the virus among all age groups. That has worked to some degree. The less virus that circulates in the community, the lower the chances of infecting vulnerable groups. So far, hospitals have not been overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients and Manitoba has one of the lowest death rates in Canada from the disease. Still, infection rates and the number of people in intensive care units have escalated in recent weeks. Because there is a lag between rising caseloads and severe outcomes, the number of deaths and ICU admissions is expected to rise further in the coming weeks.

If the province doesn’t do a better job of protecting those most vulnerable to the disease, it could be left with no choice but to impose greater restrictions on the public. That may include another shutdown of non-essential businesses and not-for-profit groups, as well as further constraints on schools. The economic, health and social consequences of that would be disastrous.

It’s not enough to simply urge everyone to do a better job of washing their hands, social distancing and staying home when sick; nor is the solution to simply tell the elderly and other vulnerable groups to stay home. As Dr. Roussin has said repeatedly, we must learn to live with this virus. Public health officials need to do a better job of helping people adopt strategies in their everyday lives to better protect high-risk Manitobans. That message needs to be delivered loud and clear from voices of authority.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca