FELDSTED -- COVID has become a nightmare of unreasonable and unwarranted fear.

We have learned from the COVID lock-down. No one wants more weeks turning into months of loneliness. 

We are likely to get a flu shot when it is available, and the lessons in hand washing, social distancing and wearing masks when social distancing is not feasible are not lost on us.

Dr. Theresa Tam has no credibility with her COVID forecasts. So far, she has been wrong at every turn. In the early days, she refused to take COVID seriously and told us the risk in Canada was low. Then she did a pirouette in mid-March and announced that COVID was the most dangerous pathogen ever. 

That is not true ... the 1957 Asian flu killed more people per capita in Canada and worldwide. 

She dismissed face masks as useless and later reversed to announce they could be used when social distancing was not possible. 

Dr. Tam was told in February that supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) were low and unlikely to meet emergency needs. We still don’t have adequate supplies. Placing sole-source orders with international companies does not ensure we have Canadian sources to keep our stockpile of PPE up to date. 

We are to believe that Dr. Tam coordinated the COVID response. If that is true, why are COVID regulations and approaches different from province to province? If it is not true, what was she doing during an epidemic? 

We have parents afraid to send their children to school, teachers afraid to teach, school boards and politicians afraid they will be blamed for COVID outbreaks. 

Not long ago, children were expected to get measles, mumps, chickenpox and rubella as a matter of course. We got sick, stayed home until we were better and carried on with our lives.

We have a new virus to contend with but cannot expect to go out in the world without incurring some risks. 

Our governments cannot protect us. Their ham-handed, totalitarian attempts have done financial and mental harm to millions. Many will not recover even if they are never infected with COVID. Our governments’ “response” has been worse than the disease.

COVID has become a nightmare of unreasonable and unwarranted fear. 

Where we know the outcome of COVID infections, when a “case” has either recovered or died, the recovery rate for Canada is 92.3%. 

For the first 17 days of August, the number of active cases has dropped by 1,370 while recoveries have increased by 7,833 and deaths have increased by 97. Total cases include recoveries and have increased by 6,560. The recoveries minus the decrease in active cases account for 98.5% of the total case increase.

The media does not report this. The public relations campaign to keep us frightened and willing to ignore common sense and allow bureaucrats to dictate to us continues – with Dr. Tam in the lead. 

We will not learn to loath our neighbours as potential COVID infectors ... there are better solutions.