COVID: Doctors disappointed at mask mandate removal

Doctors Manitoba says a fourth COVID-19 wave is coming, but how soon and how severe will be up to Manitobans in the upcoming weeks.

Dr. Kristjan Thompson is the President of Doctors Manitoba and an ER doctor at St. Boniface Hospital, saying he has seen "the sickest of the sick" this pandemic.

"I am disappointed to see the listing of the mask mandate from the province's pandemic restrictions. Now granted, the risk of COVID-19 has decreased in this province and that is because people are going out and getting vaccinated, but that risk is not zero," Thompson says.

Thompson is anticipating a fourth wave to hit the province "very soon" despite vaccinations decreasing the risk for most Manitobans. Hiebert says roughly half a million Manitobans are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with most of those being children under the age of 12.

For the president, it is not a matter of if, but of when the fourth wave will arrive, and how severe it will be.

"How severe really depends on the actions, on the decisions, made by you, by individual Manitobans, by our businesses, and our government in the coming weeks. Our province is still extremely vulnerable to COVID."

On Monday, Premier Brian Pallister commented on the mask removal.

"I think the caution we showed is reasonable and understandable. This delta variant isn't fooling around, it's a sneaky adversary, and we've got to be careful... I would remind people, remember that things like masks are no longer an order, but it's still a strongly worded recommendation, which I think many of us need to remember and follow as we move forward."

Pallister says Manitobans must be "very very careful."

Most physicians in Manitoba are worried about their ability to care for patients as they prepare for a fourth wave of COVID-19. Doctors Manitoba, an organization representing Manitoba's physicians, says 78 per cent of doctors are worried about surgery backlogs, and 48 per cent are concerned about hospital capacity of the province sees a resurgence of COVID-19 cases.

"Just this morning there was a report of very long wait times in the emergency room at St. Boniface and that is certainly something that we are seeing," Dr. Tim Hiebert says in a Tuesday morning interview.

Later that day, Doctors Manitoba sent out a release, urging Manitobans to follow the province's COVID-19 recommendations to help reduce caseloads, including getting vaccinated and wearing a mask in public spaces.

Their recommendations are:

"Everyone should continue to wear masks in public indoor settings, especially when that location is not limited to vaccinated people only.
Businesses that continue to require masks and take other precautions should be applauded, not criticized, for their commitment to protecting their employees and customers.
The vaccine passport should be used more widely, in the short term, to create more low-risk opportunities for fully vaccinated Manitobans to gather.
At the first sign of a potential fourth wave, the mask mandate and other restrictions should be reintroduced without delay, using either a regional or provincial approach as deemed necessary by public health officials."

While the provincial vaccination rate for two doses is 73.1 per cent, Thompson says in reality 63 per cent of the total population is fully vaccinated if all Manitobans are included in that statistic.

The province has not yet released data on Delta projections or what kind of COVID-19 spread they are anticipating in schools in the fall. On Saturday, Public Health eased their restrictions before having Delta virus projections, something they said they earlier stated they would consider before reopening.

"Our hospitals still haven't fully recovered from the third wave of this pandemic," Thompson says, noting that a surge will impact healthcare across the province.

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With files from Trev Schellenberg