Two weeks after Denmark announced COVID-19 restrictions would be removed, the country has seen a drop in cases.
Cases remained at highs around the time of the announcement, but on Feb. 15, the Nordic country announced the reproduction rate of the virus had fallen below one for the first time since the beginning of January.
The country has been considered a “pioneer” in the global community when it’s come to COVID-19 measures, being one of the first countries to impose lockdowns when the pandemic began and now with its plan to soften its position.
Dr. Mahin Baqi, an infectious disease expert and physician in Toronto, said she’s a big believer in what’s currently happening in Denmark.
Danish society is a unique one that is very homogeneous, has a lot of trust in the government and they have a lot of trust in their community, she said.
“I’d like to live in Denmark right now,” Baqi said.
Denmark’s position shifted because vaccination continues to remain steady, and hospitalizations and ICU admissions continue to trend down. They believe this is due to what has been dubbed “hybrid immunity.”
Hybrid immunity occurs when high vaccination rates are coupled with immunity after an infection, lending itself to a higher probability of stability.
Baqi said that people who have been infected with COVID-19 have additional antibodies that help to protect them from infection compared to those with two dose vaccination antibodies.
“Those that have been infected with COVID-19, they actually have natural immunity, plus they actually have vaccine induced immunity [when they’ve received a COVID-19 vaccine as well],” she said.
During the Omicron wave, Ontario’s healthcare system was pushed to the brink. According to the Ontario Hospital Association, the province has the same number of hospital beds as it did more than 20 years ago, but its population size has grown by more than 2.8 million people in that time.
Baqi acknowledged that restrictions were always there to continue to take the strain off our healthcare system.
“If you look at the Ontario Science Advisory Table data…I see numbers are coming down, the hospitals are less overwhelmed right now, so as those numbers come down, we too should be able to open up,” Baqi said.
While Canada has seen declines in cases related to the Omicron variant, a new Variant of Concern (VOC) mutating from the original Omicron variant has health experts worried.
This new strain, BA.2, has been dubbed “Stealth Omicron,” because some of its genetic traits have made it more difficult to detect.
Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said in an update in January that the country would continue to monitor the new sub-lineage for any new developments or data.
“It could potentially have an increased advantage on a spread. But that’s something we’ll be tracking very closely,” Tam said.
In Canada, both Saskatchewan and Alberta have entered into their plans to remove restrictions related to COVID-19.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney presented his plan, which was approved by Alberta’s COVID cabinet committee, last week.
It lays out a path for the province to “move on from a widespread pandemic response to get our lives back to normal,” Kenny said.
“We cannot remain at a heightened state of emergency forever,” he said. “We have to begin to heal so Alberta will move on.
“But we’ll do so carefully, we’ll do so prudently, we will do so only if it does not threaten the capacity of our healthcare system,” Kenny said.
Baqi agrees with the premiers that it’s time to move forward, provided the trends indicate that it’s smart to do so.
Saskatchewan’s vaccine passport policy ended on Feb. 14, meaning businesses, workplaces and other public venues would no longer be mandated by the province to require proof of vaccination or negative testing.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe insisted the province’s official position is that it’s time to move forward.
“We want things to be as normal as they can,” he said.
The proof of vaccine policy in Saskatchewan had essentially “created two classes of citizens,” vaccinated and unvaccinated, leading to tension and distrust.
“[Saskatchewan] is a tolerant province, and we are going to need all of that tolerance in the days ahead,” he added.
In Denmark, an important metric the country has monitored to predict numbers and determine the safety of removing restrictions is wastewater. Baqi said Ontario needs to surveil wastewater as restrictions here are lifted.
“I think the wastewater surveillance is a very good thing to follow, I think the fact the number has come down [in Denmark] is a very significant finding,” Baqi said.
She said public health measures will need to stay in place in vulnerable settings where the risk of exposure is higher and those who are at risk of exposure are the most vulnerable.
“I think we’ll need to mask in long-term care facilities and hospital settings. There may be some masking also involved in mass transit because you may have vulnerable people in mass transit,” Baqi said.
“That may be something that some people may not have the choice of having to take a car or personal transportation,” she said.