January 2022
Way back in March 2020, we were told that we just needed “two weeks to flatten the curve.” That “two weeks” is now approaching its third year.
I’ll give our governments a bit of a break on that one, as at the time it was said, we really didn’t know what we were dealing with. We did, however, have a pandemic preparedness report, co-authored by Dr. Theresa Tam in 2006, which we seem to have completely ignored, along with our experiences from SARS and H1N1, so there’s that issue.
Most of us did what our government leaders told us to do, including getting fully vaccinated (81.2% for Ontario and 77.4% nation-wide), then with a third “booster” shot. We downloaded our vaccine passports with the fancy looking QR code, which we were told would guarantee there would be no more lockdowns.
Now in the face of the Omicron variant, which is more contagious, but less virulent (so basically, it’s closer to the influenza outbreaks we have every winter), we have closed schools and either shut down or placed capacity limits on indoor and outdoor social gathering places and businesses.
We are told that we don’t want to overwhelm our hospitals, which admittedly would be bad, but we’ve had decades and decades to ensure our health care system can handle the needs of Ontarians. Currently, we have 244 people in Intensive Care Units in Ontario with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Virus. That doesn’t sound like our hospitals are being overwhelmed.
Well, no more overwhelmed than they’ve been for decades.
The real problem with our health care system is due to political and bureaucratic mismanagement going back decades, not because we aren’t “doing our part.” Ontario taxpayers pay a lot of money for health care services, projected to be $74.1 billion in the 2021-22 fiscal year, and these services that are increasingly getting harder to obtain in a timely fashion.
In the meantime, we have people dying because of a lack of medical care for “non-essential” procedures, along with the plummeting mental health of people facing financial ruin, some of whom may have taken their own lives because of it.
How about the mental health of our children? Early in the pandemic, I told my daughter that the health precautions we were told to help mitigate the spread were the same ones that we practice during the annual cold and flu season, specifically don’t cough or sneeze in people’s faces, stay home if you are sick and wash your hands frequently. After almost two years, I’ve done all I can to reassure my daughter not to worry. She’s already told me that she doesn’t want to do the on-line schooling anymore.
It’s time to admit that we have to live with this virus, just like we live with the common cold and influenza, and get on with our lives.
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Edited version published in the Toronto Sun, 7 January 2022
LATHER, RINSE, REPEAT
Way back in March 2020, we were told that we just needed ‘two weeks to flatten the curve.’ That ‘two weeks’ is now approaching its third year. I’ll give our governments a bit of a break on that one, as at the time it was said, we really didn’t know what we were dealing with. We did, however, have a pandemic preparedness report, co-authored by Dr. Theresa Tam in 2006, which we seem to have completely ignored, along with our experiences from SARS and H1N1, so there’s that issue. Most of us did what our government leaders told us to do, including getting fully vaccinated. We downloaded our vaccine passports, which we were told would guarantee there would be no more lockdowns. Now in the face of the Omicron variant, which is more contagious, but less virulent, we have closed schools and either shut down or placed capacity limits on indoor and outdoor social gathering places and businesses. In the meantime, we have people dying because of a lack of medical care for “non-essential” procedures, along with the plummeting mental health of people facing financial ruin, some of whom may have taken their own lives because of it. How about the mental health of our children? It’s time to admit that we have to live with this virus, just like we live with the common cold and influenza, and get on with our lives.
Bruce Forsyth, Barrie, Ont.
(There have been some political leaders that have said just that, but there are few of them)
Sources: COVID-19 vaccination coverage in Canada – Canada.ca, FUREY: Ontarians are locked down again — and that’s unacceptable | Toronto Sun, Schools, indoor dining shuttered as Ontario reintroduces COVID measures | Toronto Sun, Ottawa had a playbook for a coronavirus-like pandemic 14 years ago. What went wrong? – The Globe and Mail, Ministry of Health: Spending Plan Review (fao-on.org).
