Thoughts on BC Politics and More

A truly life-or-death, three-way struggle is going on around the world — a struggle to determine the response to the next pandemic. On one side are the minimizers: right-wing and contrarian groups that have wanted to do as little as possible about COVID-19 and the public-health response to it. On another side are the maximizers: scientists and their supporters who hope for the best but want to plan for the worst. And in the middle are the governments and health agencies trying to do the right thing, which is unlikely to be a compromise between minimizers and maximizers. Few governments and agencies have been blameless in their responses to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But they know any change in policies or planning would be attacked by one side or the other — or both . . . . CLICK HERE for the full story

  Yesterday we hit a record number of hospitalizations in BC - 2 years into a pandemic this is not where I envisioned we would be. We should have learned and gotten better with each wave. But we have not. Why not and how can we do better?   It’s difficult to understand the direction, outcomes, goals, and guidance right now. The press conferences and communications from government do not articulate a clear common goal or shared outcomes that we’re striving for collectively.   Mostly it feels like we’re on our own, and that it should be our expectation to be exposed to Omicron, and likely become ill. We keep hearing over and over the word “mild” - but how are we meant to reconcile that with hospitalizations at the highest they’ve ever been in BC?   Many fully vaccinated people describe severe symptoms from this wave of COVID, and clearly many people are ending up in hospital. Is it responsible to diminish illness in this way? Also - no discussion about lo...

I mean no disrespect to ducks: but I’d be a quack, much like the nutbars peddling hydroxychloroquine as a cure-all .... Pastafarians, as adherents of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster call themselves, put the cause of global warming down to a paucity of pirates. There are substantially less pirates in the world, you see, compared with yesteryear.  And the planet is warmer than it used to be.  Hence, it’s obvious: the planet is warmer because there’s less pirates. Post hoc ergo propter hoc : “after this, therefore because of this”. It’s a common logical fallacy, one that plagues my medical practice. Non-immunized children present to my emergency department with depressing regularity.  The reason they aren’t protected by vaccines, more often than not, is because of parental fear of autism. Each of those kids is a fresh reminder of the inanity of post hoc, ergo propter hoc . Many autistic children exhibit symptoms ...

BC Government News (09/02/19) :  While parents and guardians are making preparations to ensure their kids have another successful year at school with pens, books and binders, they are reminded to keep in mind the importance of immunization for their children. Following this year’s global measles outbreak, the Province took immediate action to increase immunizations and collect immunization records. Through increased immunizations and combined record reconciliation, the number of children now recorded as fully immunized against measles has risen by 37,525. “ The next vital step is implementing the mandatory reporting of the immunization status of school-aged students ,” said Adrian Dix, Minister of Health. “ Through this new requirement, we are making sure that our public health system is better prepared in the event of another outbreak in schools .” Most parents are already in compliance with this requirement. To check whether your child's imm...