Government has dropped ball on its COVID response
By Letter to the Editor on December 15, 2021.
Editor:
With the rise of the Omicron variant, the world seems to have been put on hold once again and several countries including Canada, have reacted in extraordinary ways. Though perhaps “overreacted” would be a better word.
Prohibiting flights from selected African countries made little sense considering that as of the 9th Dec., Omicron is now spreading in 57 countries and counting. This is a snap shot of reality.
That it was confirmed by astute scientists in South Africa merely means that the virus mutation was already widespread across the globe.
Because of their forthrightness, South Africa and a few other neighbouring countries are now being punished.
The somewhat relaxed land border with the U.S.contrasts with the testing protocols applied to these so called “high risk” countries and which will soon be applied to all countries – except the U.S. Not unlike the porous border allowing “essential workers” to travel freely across the 49th parallel a year or so ago.
Health Minister Duclos currently feels that the situation in the U.S. is “under control”. Well, that is certainly one opinion.
Our government has once again fumbled the ball at a critical time during the pandemic and by insisting on COVID tests to be performed only in selected countries outside of certain African nations – the so called “third country rule”, hundreds of travellers many Canadian citizens , are “trapped”. Some even travelled to Ethiopia to obtain a test – a country that Global Affairs warns against visiting.
A one-week window has now been opened (6th Dec) to facilitate testing in Frankfurt because our federal government failed to understand the consequences of the newly introduced measures. Perhaps,Belinda Dodson, an African migrations issue expert said it best : The “third country rule” was based on “ignorance and political posturing”. Further, we are the only G7 country opting to go this route.
Additional testing upon entry from limited targeted countries makes no sense , is confusing , impossible to enforce and whilst it may make the feds look like practical action is being taken, the reality is quite different.
Expanding this list everywhere except the U.S. adds to the confusion.
The grim COVID scenarios being considered are not even confirmed at this point in time (7th Dec) and it remains to be seen whether or not the new variant can evade vaccination or immunity obtained from natural infection.
Case numbers are no doubt increasing but critically, hospitalizations and ICI admissions are currently down, primarily because of increasing vaccination uptake in most age groups, vaccine mandates and mask wearing when indoors in public spaces.
Onerous lockdowns whilst necessary early on are no longer required because of the advent of vaccines and social responsibility.
But after almost two years, it would appear that our leaders have once again been stymied by this pesky plague.
Let us hope that the government of Canada introduces meaningful measures and not participate in knee-jerk reactions to yet another and likely not the last, incursion of COVID.
John P Nightingale
Lethbridge
-1
Endless variants, endless shots, constantly moving goal posts, and no end game.
Millions made unemployed, significant increases in addictions, suicides, poverty, domestic violence (including kids), and psychological disorders. All for a virus that has little to no effect on the vast majority of the population, and to very slightly extend the life of those that are already deathly ill and on the verge of death.
Sensible people are beginning to say, “Enough is enough”.
I came across this gem which was in relation to Omicron and governmental response to such. However, the meaning of the quote can be applied to many other issues.
“Anyone who lived through the post-911 policy disasters should have seen this coming from miles away. There is a subset of the population who’s #1 priority in life is to stay safe and require politicians to ACTIVELY do something about a situation. This puts politicians in a place to swing around a sledgehammer because a vocal portion of their voter base want to see something get done”.
thank you, john. this is a fair and reasonable take.
seth also provides a fair and reasonable take, and thanks, also.
here are some additional thoughts: approx. 1.9 million covid cases in canada, and approx. 1.9 million recoveries (yes, there have been about 29k deaths, the great majority who had comorbidities, were 80+ etc)…however, the focus has been to pound the relatively few deaths rather than the exceptionally high number of recoveries, and, to make as much news as possible about the rather rare cases of covid death among the young and generally healthy – just keep on trying to scare the hell out the populace so that anything the govt mandates can be seen acceptable;
covid did not originate here, it came here via international travel. such a serious pandemic it is/has been that int’l travel has remained a joyride pretty much throughout. consequently, not only did covid the original arrive here, but variant after variant, too. geez, govt can stop people from traveling domestically, can shut down businesses and people’s livelihoods, allow/mandate that people to be forced to vax or lose their jobs, but, somehow, it does not have the “authority” to shut down the primary spreader of covid: int’l joyriding travelers. amazing! as for the “shut down” to car traffic of the can/usa border – what a bs: folk could joyride to and fro at will via air, again, ensuring the fresh spread of whatever variants were/are amok;
the masses, so frightened and duped, that somehow it quickly became ok to force people to vax or lose their jobs, those jobs that govt had not already stepped in and shut down on people. and, people bobble heading that that is freedom in action. shameful, sick, unacceptable. same to be said for new brunswick pushing it ever further telling food stores that they can shut out unvaxed from getting food to eat. and, curious how the large, peaceful march against this sick measure received virtually no coverage via the mainstream media sources;
and the “science” of it all…yes, the science told us that one vax is 95+% protection…but, in no time the vaxed needed to be vaxed again, and, in no time again the vaxed vaxed needed to be vaxed yet again. now, just as many vaxed as unvaxed are reported to be getting covid. indeed, another classic bevvy of product coming from that bastion of science and integrity, the good people we refer to as pharma. pharma: legalised animal torture companies, from which comes massive profits. millions upon millions of creatures 24 hours a day being made sick, put into significant and serious agony, never ceasing…what is wrong with us? how do we find this acceptable? great karma. no thanks;
the variants may have been spawned by the ineffective vaxes – i have posted links from respectable sources that have evidence of viruses that can and have mutated in response to vaxes. do not take my word for it. if you did not look up the links i shared in another thread (you probably saw biff and just hit the neg icon and moved on), just google and you will find the articles;
perhaps, we can welcome omicron, as it seems to be a weaker version variant, and may be just what we need to get some real lasting immunity afoot. indeed, it is not unusual for viruses to seek a way to survive, and rapidly killing off hosts is certainly not a way to survive; toning down is a much better way, and let us hope omicron is a toned down variant we can live with.
what the heck – here are the links i referenced:
https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-vaccines-can-drive-pathogens-to-evolve-20180510/
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171030134625.htm
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/tthis-chicken-vaccine-makes-virus-dangerous
https://www.livescience.com/51682-vaccines-evolve-deadlier-viruses.html
haha…minus 2! i have to figure you never looked up and read the links. is that because you cannot read, because you cannot comprehend, or, because you believe that facts that conflict with your chosen outlook are best not accounted for? the vaxes do not appear to be helpful with omicron, say the officials, but still, they say to get number 3 anyway. the narrative is already saying omicron is spiking case numbers; however, only 300-ish omicron cases have been verified, while cases have surged in the thousands. but still, the narrative is suggesting that is omicron. lol
go ahead, zombies, tussle in line for your next dose. meanwhile, by the time ever more animals have been mercilessly tortured by pharm – supported by people like you – the “omicron adapted” vax projected to come around march will likely be as useless as is the original because several new greek alphabet letters of variants will have emerged.
Minuses for both our posts, but not even one rebuttal to our points.
sure casts light on how easy it is to dupe the masses of any society, and how, in turn, the masses are easily rendered simpleton enablers. always rushing to oz for answers…sandoz, so to speak, of late. i get it that opinions and feelings can vary, and frankly, should; i do not appreciate, however, that so many hold ever so tight to feelings and opinions for which they can share no basis or account for anything that challenges their belief. we are now solidly into an age of the one-truth, the cookie-cutter society. one size must fit all, and when it does not, the person will be reshaped/reconditioned such that is does.
somehow, it seems like we have been welcomed to china’s way, and no longer just their consumer goods: they send us covid, and along with it the socio-political model upon which the new world order is to be based.