99% of us awoke this
morning with no more that the usual aches and pains some of us have acquired
through wear and tear.
The people of my
generation drank from a hose, rode bikes without chain guards or helmets on
gravel roads, climbed trees (and fell out), used willow sticks to propel mud
balls at targets, played ball without gloves, played hockey without shin guards
or gloves, played football without armor. We froze our toes skating on outdoor
rinks, drank and drove, smoked like chimneys, survived chicken pox, a couple of
varieties measles, whooping cough, colds, the flu, pneumonia, and are still
here.
The 1918 influenza
epidemic infected an estimated 500 million people -- or about one third of the
world population at the time -- and resulted in about 50 million deaths.
The polio virus first
hit Canada in 1910. That virus hung around for decades, sometimes dormant
sometimes not. Between 1949 and 1954 about 11,000 Canadians were left paralyzed. In 1959 there were nearly 2,000 new cases. The Salk vaccine was
introduced in 1955, and polio was under control by the early 1970s. Canada was
not declared polio free until 1994.
We had an influenza
epidemic in 1957-58 that killed about 7,000 people when our population was only
about 17 million.
In 1981 we were struck
by the AIDS epidemic. It has claimed about 27,500 victims to date and is still
a serious problem.
In 2003 we had a SARS
epidemic that infected over 8,000 people and killed 44. We survived SARS but
ignored the lessons it gave us.
When the threat
diminished, we didn’t keep up vaccine research or stockpile equipment for a
future epidemic. We didn’t plan for or train medical and other front-line
personnel for how to respond to the next major virus threat. We did not plan
for how to deal with a future serious communicable disease.
In 2009 we had the H1N1
epidemic that claimed 428 people.
The notion that we
cannot reopen society until we have developed a vaccine and immunized the
population is unrealistic. It took 15 years from the development of a vaccine
until polio was under control. Reopening society will result in more
coronavirus cases, but we lose an average of about 3,500 people to influenza
(flu) each year despite having flu vaccines available.
We did not shut down our
economy to deal with any of these past epidemics.
Government officials,
telling us that the Coronavirus is “unprecedented”, are complaining that is all
new to them and they
don’t know what to do.
The federal government
muffed it, pretending that the threat was low when it was high. Provinces
stepped up and took measures to protect us, but they were late in the game and
are combating a virus already embedded in our society. Drastic action was
needed and implemented because action was delayed, and we were already under
siege when we acted.
Coronavirus is nothing
to fool with and although measures to control the virus spread may seem
extreme, past experience shows that half-measures don’t work. However, measure
to counter the rapid spread of a virus is the initial defense.
We need to
regroup and redeploy our forces to deal with the virus on a longer-term basis.
There is no way forward without risk. We need to find a balance between health
and economic risk factors.
 |
| Dr Theresa Tam - Chief Public Health Officer of Canada |
People have to have jobs
and an income to afford basic necessities. Their health and well being is at
risk if we don’t get back to normal social functions relatively quickly. We
have become too fearful of coronavirus to properly consider the financial and
psychological risks of prolonged isolation from our peers. We have to balance
the probable risks of virus infection against the certain detriments of isolation
and poverty.
The federal chief
medical officer, Dr. Theresa Tam is too political for credibility. In the early
days, her primary concern was the possibility that people of Chinese ancestry
might be stigmatized. It never occurred to her that a contagious virus is not
discriminatory; it will infect any human without mercy irrespective of age,
colour, gender, heritage or race. Political correctness trumped logic and
reason.
In early February, Health Canada Officials warned that Canada couldn’t
enforce a coronavirus quarantine for travellers from China.
Officials, including Dr. Tam, said there were roughly 20,000 passengers coming
into Canada from China every week and that attempting to enforce or track a
mandatory quarantine on them would be unrealistic. We did not have the
resources to do so.
The obvious alternative
of blocking passenger traffic from China and elsewhere to protect Canada from
infection was not even considered. That set the stage for the crises we face.
We can only control some
things, and we need to focus on issues and matters within our control. We can’t
control virus outbreaks or our climate. We can only control how we respond to
these threats and do our best to minimize their impact.
We are victims of
failure to plan for protecting ourselves from the next epidemic ... and
ensuring that we have the plans and supplies ready to go when an epidemic is on
the horizon.
We need to have quarters
available in every major city and town so that people who can’t (or won’t)
isolate at home can be quarantined while they can transmit a disease.
Effectively quarantining
all citizens has serious economic and social consequences and is likely not the
most intelligent approach to combatting an epidemic. Please keep in mind:
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary” ~~ H. L. Mencken
“There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them” ~~ George Orwell
John Feldsted is a political commentator, consultant,
and strategist. He makes his home in Winnipeg, Manitoba
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