Mandryk: Moe may not yet have the right COVID-19 blend

By Murray Mandryk

Often when you blend things you, get a delicious treat.

But you have to be careful: As good as some ingredients taste, adding too much of anything usually spoils the whole thing.

That’s why we have recipe books, and that is why we follow their instructions.

This may be the problem with Premier Scott Moe’s explanation that his decision to remove vaccine passports and masking requirements was a “blend” of science and public opinion.

Moe further contended that removing all restrictions now was the best way to end the deep divisions within the province over COVID-19 restrictions.

But that really isn’t following a trusted recipe handed down from grandma or other cooking experts.

That’s pretty much winging it on the assumption you know better what people will like, and it might work out and taste great. There again, it might not.

For some time now, Moe has been arguing that people have been growing weary of not only the pandemic but also the measures associated with it.

No one can dispute this. We are all sick and tired and want it all to be over.

And for weeks now, Moe has made no bones about the fact that it’s exactly these sentiments that have been driving his Saskatchewan Party government policies.

He’s pointed to opinion polls that support this view. He’s engaging in conversation with groups like Unified Grassroots, who have long-disguised their anti-vaccine message in the rhetoric we recently heard from Moe that this is all about bringing people together.

Some now argue that politicians who simply follow the people’s wishes are simply doing what we elected them to do. That’s why Moe and the Sask. Party won an overwhelming majority a year and a half ago.

The problem is, it’s gotten a little more complicated than that in the last two years - and especially the last five months when the worst of the fourth and fifth waves.

In such times, some public health rules were necessary to stop people from rapidly spreading the virus and causing more people to become sick than the health system can withstand.

So Moe’s first dilemma is that while it may very well be everyone’s desire to end all the rules, there is a large number of people — perhaps even the majority — who get that everyone doing whatever they want isn’t in anyone’s interests.

Really, having rules to stop the virus spread is conceptually the same thing as having to meet certain qualifications to drive a vehicle or having traffic rules like speed limits and stop signs. If we all drove as we pleased, it would be chaos.

Still, some argue that they are grown adults who shouldn’t be told what they must do. Certainly, Moe is now saying people should make their own risk assessments.

Unfortunately, having conversations with some “grown adults” about this is a little like the conversations you have with your teen about why you should wear a jacket to school on a cold day.

Here is where it does come down to the science.

As Moe rightly points out, science tells us that things have changed in the COVID-19 fight. The current Omicron wave, while far more contagious —doesn’t seem as deadly.

However, what the Premier doesn’t often mention is the sheer volume of those now catching Omicron, resulting in more people than ever winding up in hospitals.

Also, for Moe to now say vaccines don’t work is, at best, incomplete information ignoring the reality they keep you from getting sicker than you otherwise would.

The problem is his government has not been following the recipe that tells it increased hospitalizations mean we should be addressing the virus spread.

Maybe that’s not what some want to hear. But it’s not healthy to eat and drink whatever you please.