Northern Light
Superstar
The Covid response in Ontario is really upsetting me in a way few other issues have before. I never thought we were that incompetent as a society. The initial curve flattening was encouraging but since then we have become one of the worst jurisdictions in the developed world. If Canadians ever had illusion’s as to having the best health care system in the world, we’ll wake up call, we have one of the worst based on our relative spending.
Ontario is now recording more new cases than entire countries that were hot spots earlier on in the pandemic with no end in sight. We don’t have to worry about a second wave because at this rate our first wave will never end
First off, lets dial back the hyperbole.
Ontario's % case growth has been under 2% steadily for the last 2+ weeks; the R-factor is ~ 1 and we have fewer people in hospital and icu with each passing week; and death toll has been declining likewise.
Yes, things could have been handled much better.
But the overwhelming disaster was the LTC system.
That vast majority of which is privately run; and the majority of whose budget does not show in our healthcare system as most residents must pay for their long-term care. (there are subsides for those whose income is insufficient to cover the cost; and palliative care is typically covered).
The disaster there is both the public and private systems, but the vast majority in the for-profit, private system.
Which, could have been mitigated (not eliminated) by earlier government action on staffing, ppe, testing and isolation protocols.
I'm not about to defend a government response I have found to be misguided, slow and ineffectual; but I also think its appropriate to apportion the blame to the appropriate actors, private and public.
Lets be frank though; outside of LTC, what made this worse was simply bad advice.
Where BC's Bonnie Henry rightly told people to go outside; enjoy the parks, but keep distant; her province performed well.
Not because being in parks itself immunizes anyone, but because rates of indoor transmission are vastly higher.
Here in Toronto we told people to stay home, which outside of LTC is the largest source of transmission, followed by workplaces and crowded transit.
For that bit of bumbling, some Medical Officers of Health should be seeking new employment.
Aside from being wrong advice, it also expended important capital; the more cooped up people were, the less long they were going to tolerate restrictions.
Apart from that, we also completely blew getting testing and contact tracing to where they needed to be. In my mind we're still a bit short on that file, though we've come a long way.
But again, not about doctor/hospital system.
Its about under-prepared public health officials, and systems.
For the record, public heath updates its statistics every day with ......wait for it..........faxes from the local public health units.
That's right, no secure, real-time data.
That's worth bitching about!