This week, GSL Director Steven Hoffman was featured in a number of articles on Global News’ online platform discussing different angles of Canada lifting certain restrictive COVID-19 measures in the near future.
In an article discussing what protective measures will have to stay in place, Hoffman discussed the efficacy of a number of protective measures absent of rapid test kits which are not developed yet. One of the proposed countermeasures is temperature checks at different places where people gather such as businesses or public transportation. According to Hoffman and other public health experts, temperature checks don’t work. During SARS, when Canada had instituted temperature checks at airports, not one single case was able to be detected.
Read the full article here.
In a second article, Hoffman discussed the reoccurrence of COVID-19 in countries that have lifted their stringent layers of protection such as Germany and South Korea. He argued that Canada would have to be vigilant and track case numbers closely after lifting restrictions. Otherwise, the progress that has been made since March could be reversed.
Read the full article here.
In an article hypothesizing about Canada’s potential to experience a second wave of exponential COVID-19 case growth, Hoffman argued that there is no certainty that there will be a second wave, but that lifting layers of protection too quickly would elevate that risk. However, safely removing these layers also doesn’t guarantee that there won’t be a return of the virus at some point. On the bright side, however, new testing numbers indicate that Canada’s laboratory capacity has grown and would be marginally better equipped in a reoccurrence.
Read the full article here.
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