To slow the spread of COVID-19, provinces have closed schools, urged people to stay home and shut businesses to varying degrees — responses that differ with the degree of community spread in each place.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organization’s director general, said Wednesday that staying home buys time and reduces pressure on health systems.
“Aggressive measures to find, isolate, test, treat and trace are not only the best and fastest way out of extreme social and economic restrictions — they’re also the best way to prevent them,” he said.
But the WHO doesn’t give specific recommendations on what businesses are essential, and because public health is a provincial responsibility, “essential” means different things in different parts of the country.
For example, Prince Edward Island originally ordered government-run liquor stores to close as part of social distancing efforts, while they remained open in Ontario. (And P.E.I. changed its decision on Wednesday.)
Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious disease physician at the University of Alberta, called it a symptom of the Canadian system.
“I think it would be much better to have standardized understandings of what essential is and then people between provinces would not have to question, ‘Well, why do you consider a liquor store crucial?'” Saxinger said. “It is, from the point of view of public messaging and consistency, a bit of a weakness.”
Lynn Valley Care Centre in North Vancouver has been particularly hard hit by a major outbreak of COVID-19. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
Doctors and public health officials are bracing for an onslaught of new cases from people exposed before the border and social distancing measures began.
“It’s this kind of calm before the storm,” she said. “In other areas, we see the storm is starting. We have a more mature epidemic happening in B.C.”
Dr. Stephanie Smith, director of infection prevention and control at U of A, said given that it takes up to 14 days for symptoms of COVID-19 to appear, it is too early to tell how much of an effect the physical distancing measures and closures are having in Canada.
“It’s become very clear that the earlier you can institute these measures, the better off you’re going to be,” Smith said.
Like trying to gather up water with your hands
In Toronto, Dr. Michael Gardam is concerned people who feel well will relax on physical distancing measures.
“This is not something that we can relax after two weeks,” he warned.
Gardam, the hospital’s chief of staff and infectious disease physician, is scrambling to stockpile masks to protect his staff at Humber River Hospital.
He’s also trying to source ventilators and juggle teleconferences as people question plans based on the results of the latest COVID-19 study from across the globe.
“It feels like you’re trying to gather up water with your hands,” Gardam said. “For those of us in health care its hell. We haven’t hit our surge yet. People are already tired and it hasn’t started.”
Lisa De Virgilio poses in a protective face mask with the phrase ‘andra tutto bene’ that means ‘everything will be ok’, sewn onto it, following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Molfetta, southern Italy, on Wednesday. (Alessandro Garofalo/Reuters)
Dr. Saverio Stranges, a professor of epidemiology at Western University is watching the pandemic unfold in London, Ont., and his own birthplace — Italy.
“If we start from the assumption that everyone can be potentially infected now, then we will be able to embrace these measures of social distancing,” he said.
The Italian experience with COVID-19 is extremely dramatic, he said, with intensive care physicians facing agonizing life-and-death decisions in overrun hospitals. Morgues are piling up with victims of the pandemic.
By contrast, South Korea and Taiwan have been able to scale up testing and tracing contacts of those who are infected.
Stranges said such measures are crucial in containing an outbreak like COVID-19 that spreads in the community.
But in Western countries, the number of cases are underestimated because only those with clear symptoms are tested.
Compared with Italy, Stranges sees an advantage in Canada’s vast geography.
“A good number of people live in detached homes, as opposed to Italian or European countries where the vast majority of people live in apartment buildings,” he said. “That is an important difference.”
Stranges said he didn’t want to generalize, but noted that Italy and Canada also tend to differ in family structures in terms of grandparents living with their children.
Graph shows how new cases of COVID-19 can quickly overwhelm a health-care system if precautions aren’t taken 0:26
People over the age of 65 face an increased risk of death from COVID-19 compared with other age groups, although everyone is susceptible in a pandemic.
He estimated that as of a few days ago, Canada was about 17 days behind Italy in terms of the epidemic curve of growth of new illnesses.
That means the worst moments of the outbreak in Canada may still lie ahead.
“This is the time when we need to comply with this measure of social distancing,” Stranges said.
JASPER, Ohio – The municipality of Jasper in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains is taking the next step this weekend as it recovers from a July wildfire that destroyed a third of its buildings.
Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland says the state of emergency will formally end on Sunday.
Ireland says the move means Jasper is transitioning from a short-term recovery perspective to a long-term view.
He also says removing the state of emergency order will help the tourist town’s much needed visitor economy return.
The wildfire destroyed more than 350 of the town’s buildings, including 800 housing units.
The town estimates 2,000 of its 5,000 residents lost their homes.
Although still burning, the wildfire that hit the community was listed as under control a week ago.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024
KINGSTON, Ont. – Police say a 47-year-old man has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted murder after two people were left dead and one was seriously injured in a series of alleged assaults in Kingston, Ont.
Police had said that officers were called to an encampment near a safe injection site and Integrated Care Hub around 10:40 a.m. on Thursday after a report of a serious assault.
They allege a man may have been wielding an edged or blunt weapon, possibly both.
Police say the suspect was arrested after officers negotiated with him for several hours.
They say the man was not living at the encampment, but at a residence nearby.
Police say he has been remanded into custody.
The two people who died have been identified as 38-year-old Taylor Wilkinson and 41-year-old John Hood.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Religious persecution
Misguided religious and cultural traditions
Fear of those who challenge the established order
Long ago a horrid thing happened in Europe and in many European Colonies. It was called the Inquisition, an instrument of the Catholic Church and used by the present-day public authorities to quell political and social protest and challenges from those considered rebels(Heretics).
In that day the Church of Rome was seen as the very roots of Western society, that which kept society on a path of righteousness and functioning practice. The political rulers of the day, kings, nobles and lords allied themselves to the church with absolute reason for doing so. The church kept them in power you see. There was a hierarchy prescribed to the present-day society where authority flowed from God to the Pope, Noblemen, Cardinals, and Priests to the public. Church law was often edited for the benefit of the higher classes. Therefore rebels standing against local or regional lords were viewed as heretics who stood against the wishes of the pope, church laws and God himself. This church-established a council of the Inquisition roamed Europe looking for heretics, those different, rebels, witches and those in league with the devil. Any form of social, cultural or political wrongdoing was dealt with with a heavy hand. The rich may have been accused of a wrongdoing, but able to seek their freedom through financial donations. The poor faced the Inquisition with terror and fear since no one was there to represent them. The church-Lord alliance maintained the most severe of punishments.
The Inquisition evolved into the massive witch-hunting movement. Millions of people perished having been accused of witchcraft and being in League with the Devil. There actually existed witch hunters who simply went to a village, watching who was odd, different, threatening to the authorities and voila, a witch was found and declared. Strange methods of finding a witch were developed. One involved sticking a pin into the back side of a person, usually a woman and if she did not cry out in pain, she was possibly a candidate for interrogation. The interrogators usually got a confession leading to that person’s death.
There exists today religious authorities with similar powers to prosecute and punish those deemed different or contrary to established religious or cultural practices. Arrest, torture and disappearances happen daily in places such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, and many African Nations. Fanatical Religious Dogma has cost millions of people their lives, and for what? The Acquisition and use of power. Power encompasses every aspect of control of others whether it be through intellect, threat or violence.
Never should such horrors happen in a civilized world. Just one question needs to be asked. Do we live in a civilized world?
