Governments across Canada have announced the return of various COVID-19 restrictions, this time to fight what appears to be the more transmissible Omicron variant.

Taken individually, one can argue these provisions are quite reasonable. For example, the Ontario government will now reduce the capacity limits for large gatherings such as concerts and NHL games to only 50% attendance.

That’s not too bad, is it?

The problem though is that we are now inching ourselves closer and closer to a broader lockdown of society. It’s something we must remain on guard against.

There’s been a great deal of talk for many months about learning to live with COVID and acknowledging when the virus has become endemic. If that doesn’t happen now, when will it happen?

The vast majority of Canadians have been vaccinated, and older and high-risk persons are already well on their way to receiving booster shots.

Meanwhile, even though the Omicron variant is considered more transmissible, all indications are that it is also milder. Nobody serious seems to be disputing that fact.

The truth is that governments are just concerned that even a milder variant can overwhelm the hospitals with vulnerable people if it does spread that much more. That is the primary motivation for any and all new restrictions.

We appreciate those concerns. But the days of telling regular Canadians that it is somehow their responsibility to put their lives on pause — and suffer the very real harms that come with it — to protect the hospitals are over.

A sizeable percentage of our tax dollars go to the Canadian health-care system. There are people paid big money to manage the system. It’s their job to protect the hospitals, not everyone else’s.

We echo the sentiments from a recent National Post editorial, which argued: “Any advice to governments to shutter businesses or schools as a means of controlling the spread of the virus should be ignored, full stop.”

Canadians need to make their voices heard and demand better. They need to just say no — and make it clear that they simply won’t tolerate having their lives micromanaged yet again.

That ship has sailed. Life must go on.

https://torontosun.com/opinion/edito...to-just-say-no