YORKTON - So Saskatchewan is only days from pulling off the last widely public rule regarding COVID with the end of the mask mandate set for March 1.
The change in mask rules follows the recent end to requiring proof of vaccination to enter public spaces where people gather, restaurants, and junior hockey games being local examples of where the proof had been required.
While there are many applauding the removal of restrictions, one has to also wonder if the rule changes were wise at this point.
People are still contracting COVID, and people are still dying from COVID and its complications, so was there a good reason to relax rules designed around public safety?
We have, after all, been wearing masks for months now, and frankly we should have been pretty much used to it, so would another month or two have been so bad?
Certainly proof of vaccination probably kept some home from certain places of business and events because individuals chose not to be vaccinated, but their staying home may have actually better protected them and those that would have been around them – or at least reduced the risk.
And, that is what vaccination and masking has been about – risk reduction.
Neither is a guarantee against catching COVID. Few things we do in terms of safety are guaranteed.
You can wear a seat belt and die in a car crash, but it reduces the risk.
A child might still be killed if hit by a car going at a reduced speed in a school zone, but the risk is reduced.
And, the list could go on and on.
So why rush now to end risk reduction measures?
That is a question we may best be able to answer in a few months when we look back on COVID numbers, deaths included, after March 1 in Saskatchewan. If the numbers jump the government will certainly be open to criticism.
Of course coming out of the two years-plus of COVID restrictions hopefully we have learned a few things, things that we continue as we move forward.
Shield at tills are a good idea to protect often minimum wage staff from the coughs, sneezes and general aerosol misting of a line-up of customers each day.
A hand sanitizer for customer use at store doors is a good thing. For thus using it going in, it should help reduce ‘bugs’ on things handled in store.
And more important for those leaving the store, because we all know far too many people for example use public washrooms and do not wash their hands then head out into public touching things including fresh apples at the grocery store, or glassware at the department store. Hand sanitizer seems warranted COVID, or not.
The same goes for wearing a mask. If you are coughing, your nose is running, you are fighting a cold, why not wear a mask to help protect others when at the store, or at work? We could all benefit from a few less colds and flus.
So time will tell if the government decision was a good one, or not, but either way there are lessons to be learned from the pandemic.
