COVID-19 cases may have gone down “dramatically,” but the virus is here likely here to stay, according to Richmond’s medical health officer.
“It’s a virus that survives...We just need to be prepared that probably by the end of the fall, we may see more illness from this virus, and not be surprised when that happens,” Dr. Meena Dawar told the Richmond COVID-19 Community Task Force on Tuesday.
However, it’s hoped any illness at that time will be mild as people will have been vaccinated and there will be “a high level of herd immunity.”
Dawar said that by fall, the virus will hopefully have changed from “a novel emerging serious virus” to one that causes an illness that’s more comparable to influenza — which comes around each year and is something people are able to be immunized against, and carry on with their lives.
“I’m hopeful when we see this (COVID-19) virus again — and we will see illness from it on a regular basis for some time — that we’ll be able to live, work and play without the types of restrictions that we’ve had for the last 14, 15 months.”
On Wednesday, B.C. health officials announced that 71.1 per cent of all adults in the province, and 68 per cent of those 12 and older, have recieved their first dose of the vaccine.
- With files from Maria Rantanen
