Our friends in Quebec are under a lockdown plus, now, a strictly enforced curfew. Manitoba and Ontario are locked down.
There is not a great deal of science behind the lockdowns other than pointing at Australia. But there is some logic in that if you are not outside your house you are unlikely to catch or transmit COVID. The problem being that there are a lot of people for whom “just staying at home” is unrealistic as they have “essential” jobs.
In Canada we have something on the order of six months to go before a really significant proportion of the population is vaccinated. (And, yes there are questions about exactly what the vaccines do – apparently they do not confer absolute immunity and such immunity as they do confer may not last all that long. But better than nothing.)
So it appears we are going to be dealing with lockdowns and curfews well into summer. And they seem to be the only tool in the public health box. But are they?
I realize I can be a bit of a bore about Vitamin D, C and zinc. Not to mention getting outside and taking a bit of exercise. But in the daily news conferences where public health officers announce cases number, hospitalizations and deaths there is no mention of the simple measures which have shown promise in reducing the incidence and severity of COVID infection.
I understand the need to stay on message and encourage compliance with current public health measures, but adding D,C, zinc and outdoor exercise to the wash your hands mantra could well improve outcomes. Even more to the point, making arrangements for D,C and zinc to be available free along with suggested dosing instructions at pharmacies and grocery stores would not be very expensive and might improve immune systems. A program like this could also be targeted at communities which appear more vunerable: First Nations, black and South Asian communities, for whatever reason, seem to be at increased risk from COVID.
Lockdowns and curfews and mask mandates have not proven terrifically successful outside Australia. Adding another layer of defence by improving the immune systems of significant numbers of people might well be more effective. It is certainly worth a try.
Jay Currie 
There are a few other jurisdictions where the efficacy of lockdown, curfew and masking appear to have been demonstrated. The most obvious is of course New Zealand. However, their smaller population and physical isolation make it hard to assess the impact of their strategies in isolation from other considerations.
A better example would be to compare the course of the pandemic in adjacent countries with comparable demographics, climates and public health approaches. The obvious example would be Sweden, whose public health officials initially adopted a hands-off, laissez-faire approach that made them the darling of conservative Covid-watchers globally. At least, until it became clear that Denmark, Norway and Finland, their closest neighbours, were all faring much better with more rigorous isolation and masking measures.
Interestingly, Finland has been distributing Vitamin D to its population pretty much from the go.