Public health mandates could return, Tam warns, but favours lighter touch in future

Canada's chief public health officer says governments should be prepared to bring back public health measures in case of another serious variant of COVID-19.

Several provinces have begun to scale back on mandates for vaccines and masks, signalling a return to normalcy now that the Omicron wave is waning.

Dr. Theresa Tam says she hopes Canada is past the pandemic crisis and is now in a transition phase, headed toward recovery.

She says Canada must still be ready to bring some public health measures back if cases begin to shoot up again.

The goal, she says, will be to limit stiff restrictions in favour of "less heavy" measures like mask mandates.

She says COVID-19 is not going away, and Canada must be ready for next autumn when respiratory viruses typically resurge.