Docs plead for more restrictions in letter to premier

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This article was published 03/05/2021 (1334 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

More than 200 doctors on the front lines of the pandemic have sent a letter to Premier Brian Pallister in which they call for further lockdowns to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Lisa Bryski, a retired emergency room doctor who has worked throughout the pandemic, sent an email to the premier Tuesday night. She and 213 of her medical colleagues demanded the government temporarily close all non-essential businesses, with even more restrictions on indoor and outdoor gatherings; make all teachers, school staff and child-care workers immediately eligible for the vaccine; and give financial support for Manitobans including sick leave and vaccination leave.

“We do not take this lightly,” the doctors say in the letter.

“As health-care providers, we’ve seen the worst consequences of this pandemic up close. Our current delay in shutting down non-essential activities will create the illusion of short-term gain, but will lead to more chronic illness and death, as well as the need for longer and even more severe shutdowns to control the virus.

“Any delay will also impact all of health care with a cascade of delays to surgeries and management of other medical problems. But we can change course by shutting Manitoba down and providing financial support.”

The doctors pointed to Ontario, where people are not only entering hospitals in record numbers, but the patients are younger and healthier, with more needing oxygen and ventilators. 

The doctors said that until far more Manitobans are vaccinated, the entire population is at risk.

“For prevention to be effective, we need to shut down when cases begin to rise,” they said. “It is like calling the fire department when our basement is full of smoke.

“If we wait until the entire house is on fire, it is far too late.”

The doctors who signed the letter are from all fields of medicine, including family, geriatric, internal, emergency, radiology, critical care, psychiatry, neurology, public health and virology.

“We will continue to act on the advice of Dr. Roussin and our public health leaders and will implement the necessary measures to protect Manitobans from COVID-19 and to ensure our health care system has the capacity to care for Manitobans when they need it,” said a spokeswoman for Pallister.

— Kevin Rollason