“I remember being incredibly jealous, but at the same time, I was thinking about myself,’What are you doing?'” Olaoye told CBC News.

Now, she is a person with a social life.

After three nationwide blockades and a brutal second wave of shocks, Britain may be on the verge of normalcy. Its epidemic management methods can provide lessons for parts of Canada that are still struggling, and contrast with the United States. The United States, like the United Kingdom, has vaccinated millions of people, but it is still reporting thousands of new COVID-19 cases every day for the following reasons: some lingering hot spots.

Olaoye is the president of NKL Marketing, an online celebrity marketing company. She spent the past few weekends in the gym and shopping with friends in the Soho community in London. She and her husband visited another family at one time.

“It feels like everything is back to normal for us, which is really surprising. [for] My family, this is a bit backwards. “

On June 21, it is expected that restaurants, bars, cinemas and theaters in England will reopen indoors without causing physical distance or capacity restrictions, but there are some requirements for masks.

Olaye said: “Everyone is calling June 21 as Independence Day or Reopening Day, and they are joking about it.”

There are restrictions Slowly lift In the past few months in the UK. On March 8, the children returned to school. On March 29, nearly three months later, the whole house service order was cancelled. On April 12, non-essential retail, stadiums, salons, libraries and community centers reopened.

She said Olaoye and her husband have not yet been vaccinated-they are “impatiently waiting” for people over 30 to qualify, which should happen this month-but Two thirds of British adults At least received their first dose.

The other side of the pond

Compare the picture with the United States. In these two countries, the number of COVID-19 cases that occur every day has dropped sharply because millions of people have been vaccinated.

However, the per capita incidence rate in the United States is still four times higher than that in the United Kingdom, and there are hot spots like Michigan, which has the highest seven-day incidence rate with 218 cases in 100,000 people.

Unlike the United Kingdom, there are no strict public health restrictions on vaccination in Michigan, which has always been the focus of controversy.

Katie Pontifex, a nurse at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Michigan, said: “I don’t even know how far we can call it a limit. We have a limit.”

Since February 2nd, Michigan began to open indoor dining, and the capacity limit was increased in March. Since December 21st, entertainment venues such as movie theaters have also been opened, requiring masks to be worn.

Ponty Fix, a board member of the Michigan Nurses Association, said she and many of her colleagues wanted stricter rules, even if it was only a few weeks. Her hospital saw a surge of COVID-19 patients in March, and the situation has only just begun to decline.

Ponty Fix said: “Regain control of the country and then vaccinate at the same time. Maybe we can stand on the other side.”

But no new restrictions were announced. Governor Gretchen Whitmer even asked the United States to provide more vaccines to deal with this surge last month, and was even rejected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The director of the CDC said: “The answer is not necessarily vaccination, because we know that vaccines will delay the response.” Dr. Rochelle Varensky said.

“The answer to this is actually to turn everything off.”

Pontifex said that she and her colleagues have experienced the previous surge of COVID-19 since the fall, and have been exhausted, and now some people are starting to speculate about their career path.

She said: “In the past year, we can rely on the number of patients who successfully completed the ventilator on the one hand.” “So we have been trying emotionally.”

Jennifer Nuzzo, the chief epidemiologist of Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 Test Insights Initiative, said Whitmer’s “hands” were influenced by the legislature and Michigan’s highest The lashing of the court is a fact. Restricted her power to issue emergency orders In October, it was clearly the culprit that caused the surge.

Nuzzo said: “In terms of spreading usage restrictions, they were very aggressive earlier.”

“But these are pause buttons. When the play button is pressed again, unless other measures are taken, the virus will wreak havoc.”

The recent wave of infections in Michigan may provide a vigilant story for Canadian jurisdictions, such as Ontario, where officials are considering Whether to terminate the home order Or extend May 20.

Nazo said that in general, the few states where Louisiana and Wyoming are still on the rise have not made much progress in vaccination. She said there are many factors, including the lack of access to vaccines and sometimes hesitation.

Nuzzo told CBC News: “Until recently, it was really difficult to get vaccinated.” “You have to make up your mind to do it. You have to decide that this is the most important thing to do in your life… Not everyone has it. This feeling.”

Watch | The United States supports the abandonment of vaccine patents during the “exceptional period”:

In the debate on the removal of intellectual property protection, the Biden administration has joined the call for more sharing of the technology behind the COVID-19 vaccine to help accelerate the end of the pandemic. 3:35

She cited a health center in San Francisco as an example. The health center initially sent a text message to provide vaccines, but the absorption rate was very low. When they switched to the phone, more people booked appointments.

Nuzzo said that sending text messages is easy. When the people on the other end of the hotline are there to book appointments and answer their questions immediately, people get better service.

This is just an example of how vaccination can be more successful if it is targeted at a specific community.

Watch | Every adult on a remote island in BC shoots:

The most recent remote British Columbia island with a population of 1,200 is the latest community to provide COVID-19 vaccines to all adults. 2:26

Considering the importance of vaccinating as many people as possible, Nuzzo said she likes the Saskatchewan method, which makes Reopening depends on high vaccination rate.

“I like to draw vaccines as a gateway to freedom, and this is their essence.”

Wait 5 weeks

Omar Khan, professor of bioengineering at the University of Toronto, says Canada can learn another important lesson from the UK

He said that the secret of Britain’s success was not only its rapid vaccination campaign (which started before any other Western country), but also the five-week waiting period between its reopening phases.

Khan said, “That’s really smart.”

He said that these five weeks not only enabled more people to be vaccinated, but also gave their bodies the “best” immune response.

He said: “Once you pass the one-month mark, your disease incidence will plummet.” “It’s incredible.”