Leafs are Falling

There's a lovely man that works where I rent a car to go camping in the summer. When I walk in with my N95 in place, he starts wiping the shit out of the counter and applying sanitizer liberally to his own hands and the car keys before passing them over to me in order to keep me safe. So thoughtful! 

But he doesn't wear a mask. 

That's what bad public health comms does to people. It keeps people unaware that Covid lives in the air more than the counter.

And that's what's happening to the Leafs, as they succumb, one by one, to a mysterious illness. 

Mark Ungrin gives us a good analogy for the baffling nature of officials and media today: 

"Remember that kids' show where there's always a mystery and it's totally obvious but the townspeople can't figure it out, and then after half an hour of a toddler shouting clues at the TV, the dog finally puts it together and solves the mystery?"

It's not just from bad comms, although that's where it started. At this point in the game, shifting sides on this means letting in some pretty painful shit. 

Whenever acknowledging what is true can provoke feelings of guilt or shame for what we believed was true in the past, we will fight to stay ignorant. 

Avoiding an MPOX on All Our Houses

The WHO has declared an international Public Health Emergency for a more lethal version of Monkeypox, now called mpox, which is clade 1b, aka 1 MPXV, and comes with a 4% fatality rate (compared to Covid's current approximately 0.7% rate -- or 1 in 25 vs 1 in 150). However, Forbes reports that clade I could "kill up to 10% of people."

The different "clades" (a broad grouping of variants) matter. Anyone can get it regardless of sexual orientation, but men who have sex with men had a significantly higher risk of getting Clade II, which was big in 2022. Right now, we've got Clade 1. an airborne infectious disease that is more severe. In Burundi, almost half of the cases are in children under 5, and, from Forbes, "children younger than 15 years old now make up more than 70% of cases and 85% of deaths. . . . The outbreak in children suggests that clade I is transmitted through air." So all the comments about gay sex are moot for this one, like these lovely examples:

Coming Soon to a Hospital Near You

The Minden ER closed June 1, 2023. A recent article in the Minden Paper explains why this should worry all of us.

Jeff Nicholls said,

"After we analyzed the decision-making processes before, during, and after the closure of Minden ER, our team audited teh audited financial statements of every hospital in Ontario. . . . For FY22, 25% of Ontario hospitals posted a deficit . . . For FY23, 75% of Ontario Hospitals posted a deficit. . . . Their average deficit was $5.9 million. . . . One healthcare system -- Mackenzie Health [in Richmond Hill] -- posted a $93 million surplus. . . . 

Canada's Healthcare Crisis

A major backbone of Canada is falling apart, and much of it is from poor policy decisions that has led to a serious doctor shortage. 

Mary Fernando, MD, wrote about it. 

"A personal post in two parts: 1. Someone I love needs a specialist but wait times are dangerously long because of our specialist shortage. 2. As a doctor who resisted large money offers from the US to stay in Canada, I've lost something more important than money: my family's safety. 

The Enshittification of Health Care

Last week David Moscrop wrote an excellent piece in The Walrus about Loblaw. 

He wrote, 

"If you live in Canada, you're probably part of the Loblaw ecosystem, whether you like it or not. . . . It accounts for nearly a third of Canada's grocery market. . . . Loblaw's sensational fourth-quarter results--$14.53 billion in revenue and $541 million in profit--suggest the mission is going well. . . . President Galen Weston Jr. was hauled before a parliamentary committee, which grilled him over soaring food prices. . . . Grocers in Canada have recently enjoyed not just higher profits but higher profit margins--a practice one might call profiteering. Retailers keep charging more, in other words, not just because of increased industry costs but because there isn't enough competition to stop them. . . . Another wave of outrage from customers and experts forced health insurer Manulife to walk back a deal to cover certain prescription drugs exclusively at Loblaw-owned pharmacies--an arrangement that would have deepened Loblaw's reach into Canadian lives, a presence already bordering on the imperial. . . . As Shoppers Drug Mart expanded into health services, critics warned it might be pressured into putting profits first and care second by cutting corners, rushing patients, and pushing unnecessary treatments. And right on target, Shoppers was recently accused of unethical billing practices in its MedsCheck consultation program.

Erosion of Public Health

You would think that after dealing with Covid for over FOUR years that Public Health would be amazing at stopping Measles in its tracks, unless maybe they've been directed otherwise.

From Henry Madison:

Why persist with Covid questions? Because our greatest achievement in history was the invention of public health. Nothing else comes close. We went to war on infections, and suddenly people lived twice as long. Living with infections is a betrayal of our own history.