As provinces and territories roll back COVID-19 mandates, governments should be prepared to resume public health measures should another serious variant potentially emerge.

That from Canada’s chief public health officer.

With national weekly case counts down 26% and the number hospitalized and in intensive care down over 20% in the past week, Dr. Theresa Tam hopes the country’s past the crisis and in transition heading toward recovery.

But she cautions it’s possible things may change again in September, when respiratory viruses tend to resurge.

”We need to be ready for the fall, in case we need to up our game again,” Tam says.

But, according to her, the goal this time would be to limit strict measures in favour of ”less heavy” restrictions such as mask mandates.

”If a variant occurs and people are impacted severely, then I’m sure all these policies will again be re-examined,” Tam adds.