In fact, so much information and statistics are being provided that it's becoming a bit of overkill, with few media or press organizations able to sift through the vast amounts of data provided.
It makes me think of those legal dramas on TV or the movies where EVIL CORP provides hundreds and hundreds of boxes of discovery material, hoping to overwhelm the modest team of opposing lawyers, in an effort, to stop them from discovering the 'smoking gun' buried within.
And so, because of my confinement and with nothing but time on my hands, I decided to sift through the data and see what perhaps the government does not want us to see.
Now I'm not condemning the Quebec government for the circumstances of the unfolding disaster.
The early March school break in Quebec is a traditional family getaway where many week-long vacations overseas take place. Many schools organize educational trips to Europe during this break. The returning virus-laden travellers coupled with the onslaught of returning retiree snowbirds (quick to visit mom and dad in the nursing homes upon their return), Quebec faced a perfect storm of circumstances.
The real fault lies in the utter failure of Health Canada to understand, predict and advise Canadians to avoid travel and to quarantine upon return.
In fact, Quebec's Premier Legault was so alarmed that Prime Minister Trudeau refused to follow America's closure of the border to Europe, that he raised holy hell, prompting the PM to reluctantly follow suit, but too late to stave off the coming disaster.
At any rate, for the first two or three weeks, it seemed that Quebec had the virus matter well in hand, but that all when to shit recently when cases in senior residences and nursing homes blew up.
While the Quebec government concentrated on building up capacity in the hospitals, it totally ignored the danger in senior residences and nursing homes, a decision that led us to the present disaster.
"The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry."And so the explosion of cases in these senior residences has caught everyone by surprise, the reaction of the government has been anemic, but understandable because pivoting and reacting quickly to a changing situation is not what governments do well.
While we are told a lot about the situation, we are not told how bad we are really doing in comparison to the rest of the world. In fact, Quebec is right up there with the worst.
I've taken the liberty of presenting Quebec virus statistics separately as if Quebec was its own country, divorced from Canada.
Suddenly Canada looks to have a minor epidemic while Quebec looks like a disaster,
The table on the left below of selected major countries (plus Quebec alone and Canada minus Quebec) describes the number of cases per million population and as you can see, Quebec is right up there with the USA in the number of cases, while Canada is way down the list.
In fact, Quebec alone has relatively four times the cases reported in the rest of Canada (ROC.)
The same goes for deaths (the below right chart) where Quebec has reported relatively four times the numbers than the ROC.
What is worse is that the situation is pretty much out of control in Quebec's nursing homes and residences.
Staff is either out sick themselves or have abandoned their posts, understandable because facing a deadly virus for $15 an hour without appropriate personal safety equipment isn't the dream job and nobility only goes so far.
The bewildered Quebec government's desperate reaction is to demand that these senior residence health workers stay on the job even if they are symptomatic, a travesty considering everyone else in society is told to isolate themselves on the slightest chance they are positive, even without symptoms.
One Verdun home was so short of staff that it locked the doors at shift-change, imprisoning workers, something that in normal times would be considered criminal.
Panic is certainly the keyword and certainly justified.
Read a chilling account of the situation;
"50% increase in all CHSLD Covid victims in three days manifests an institutional failure of the system." Link The Suburban
Yesterday 1,900 people died of the virus in the USA and 117 deaths were reported in Quebec.
Because Quebec's population is 40 times smaller than the USA (335 million versus 8.5 million) the effective overnight death rate in Quebec is double that of the US.
I bet nobody in the media is pointing that out!
While Quebecers are told to shelter in place, a measure that is no longer necessary because of the few cases outside the senior residences and hospitals, the virus is ripping through these homes with reckless abandon.
As we move forward we can expect that deaths will continue to skyrocket in Quebec as our seniors are decimated and be prepared, because the worst is yet to come.
Yeah I noticed the same which was the Quebec numbers are way worse than the rest of Canada. Look at Manitoba for goodness sake which has 100 active cases and 5 deaths with 1.4 million people. Multiply that by 6 to get equivalent for Quebec and you will see we have 20 times the cases and deaths they do. Albeit they are more isolated and their spring break is at the end of March but still its glaring. Even Ontario is nowhere near as bad as we are.
ReplyDeleteHere is probably the best interview from an expert I have seen on the virus and our response to it. This guy knows his stuff and is very balanced.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK0Wtjh3HVA
First of two: Hi comp! Yup, it's "Bonkers" here (the isolation, despite being with a compatible life partner, is having its effects, but I'll survive). I've listened to Dr. Katz for about 8 minutes and while I have a ways to go, it still leaves many of us "imprisoned", and someone like myself still works for a living. I can't fully afford to retire, so I guess I'm semi-retiring (not that I fully want to, but finances have their say). This would therefore cost me my job and I don't imagine I'll get salary replacement to keep me going. In short, what Dr. Katz is proposing in many cases is easier said than done.
ReplyDeleteWhat I also worry about is complacency will return and too many people, if not everybody, will go back to what life was as recently as in February. With the Americans splitting its policies into 50 jurisdictions, we'll see how that works out soon enough. They're in bad shape now, and while life there would be hunky-dory for a while, I have a feeling another wave will roar in with vengeance far worse than their poor record now. Like Canada, America has a top-heavy aging (Baby Boom) population, so chances are this could very badly backfire, but then again, Americans are quite self-absorbed enough to not care what happens to their old... perhaps until it starts to affect their senior family members...then again, maybe not.
I like to think we in Canada have more of a social conscience. I figure that's true considering we have more transfer payments to the less affluent than America does; in fact, isn't the Orange Turd cutting back the food stamps program? Considering I've heard and seen reports that between 59-78% of Americans live paycheque-to-paycheque (depending on the source you read--it was Forbes that quoted the 78% number). Of course, it's Black people in the U.S. who are disproportionately affected, no surprise since they make up a disproportionate percentage of the impoverished and the prison population.
Is your solution in the U.S. to quarantine the Black population? G-o-o-o-o-o-o-d luck implementing that solution.
I think you should listen to the full hour..the best of the video is after 10-15 minute mark where he talks in more details on how we could go about bringing people back into society and so on..very interesting but complex no doubt.
ReplyDeleteOne way or another we cannot continue what we are doing now much longer or we will have no health system left as we will effectively bankrupt ourselves. There is a smarter way of dealing with this and Philip has laid it out.
The only real viable solution is getting as much herd immunity as we can as quickly as possible before next fall. If we go through another winter with no vaccine and little immunity then the second wave will be worse. Better to get it over with now as we may have a chance of relaxing these measures more quickly. I cant even imagine us continuing this into the summer..it would be total devastation to the world economy notably bankrupt countries like Canada, USA and much of Europe. If you want to see more death then this will do it as we will have no money left for any health care system, there will be mass unemployment, social upheaval and all sorts of bad consequences which will end up killing far more people in the end.
Second of two:I told you so! Quebec has proven once again it is a loser state, nothing more nothing less! The «Québécois de vieille souche», the loser majority have proven no matter what they try to implement. Whether led by the nose by corrupt politicians or an equally oppressive and perverted Roman Catholic church, the more they're gullible to these false dogmas, the more they exhibit what bumpkins they really are. Hicks! Hillbillies! Simpletons!
ReplyDeleteThe Perverted Catholic Church clergy goes around knocking on their parishioners' doors uninvited to ensure the women are knocked up. Bye-bye church, bye-bye revenge of the cradles. Now their numbers age going down and they're paranoid they'll lose their majority.
Next, they enact legislation ignoring one of Canada's two official languages and then try to goad the federalists by adding sections they consciously know are against our constitution and further know those aspects will be defeated and claim alienation at the hands of the Real Canada.
After that, they try again to indoctrinate the children of the newbies with anti-everything-but-French jacent falsehoods. Again, doesn't work. No separation to date.
What next? Gain jurisdiction over the feds when it comes to immigration. They put their thumbs on the scale to ensure French speakers make up the majority of the immigrants. They figure that will keep the scales tipped in their favour. They try to indoctrinate the newbies with false fascist Quebec ideology, the newbies ignore their way-of-life paradise (how smart they are--paradise it's not) hence another master plan to integrate the French speakers is foiled.
In reality, more than ever, now they'll never vote to separate because the costs they're absorbing to fight their losing battle is sinking them further into debt and further into shame.
I think this will at long last tip the scales outside Quebec, and the time for the Real Canada to throw out these ignorant stumblebums has come. Should the West Island want to partition, I'd give them the chance, but they better do it fast! VERY FAST!!!