Get Normal Now!

Vincent J. Curtis

27 May 20

The Hamilton People's Daily ran an article by an instructor of "numeracy" for journalists.  The piece was an eye-glazer, and what became apparent was that the facts and figures he was discussing had nothing to do with what was important in respect to the pandemic in Canada and to the response to it.

Here are a few figures the J-School math tutor didn’t mention in his article.  Approximately 260,000 people die each year in Canada from all causes: 79,000 from cancer, 51,000 from heart disease, 13,000 by accidental causes, 6.000 from influenza and pneumonia, and 4,000 by suicide, to name a few.  This means that in the 75 days since the beginning of the lockdown, over 53,000 people have died from all causes in Canada, while Covid-19 deaths number 5,000.

Given the shutdown and the turning over of the health care system to the treatment of Covid-19, there is no telling how many cancers went undiagnosed, heart attacks and strokes not treated due to fear of going to hospital, how many additional suicides, drug addiction, and alcoholism were caused by the lockdown itself.

Of the 5,000 Covid-19 deaths in Canada, 4,000 occurred among the elderly, primarily in nursing homes in Quebec.  Practically no one under 40 has died as a result of Covid-19, while those under 70 have a 99.9 percent chance of surviving an infection.

The geographical distribution of deaths is also peculiar.  More than half of Canada’s deaths occurred in Quebec, and the overwhelming number of those occurred in Montreal.  The hot spot in Ontario is Toronto, and Toronto is far better off than Montreal.  The rest of Canada has microscopic numbers of cases, the third largest province is B.C. with 160 deaths, followed by Alberta with 130.  For this, the entire country was shut down.  I assure you that if Edmonton was the center of the storm, Toronto would not be shutting down its parks and beaches and Quebec would take no notice.

The special hazard the virus posed for those over 70 was known at the beginning of March, before the lockdown began.  Instead of isolating seniors and focussing protective efforts on them, the country, the media and the politicians, went into full panic mode and shut down the entire economy, and made a farce of civil rights and democratic government in doing so.

It’s time to recognize the mistake and re-open the economy and everything else immediately.  Get normal now!  We can save the recriminations for later, but the death caused from keeping the economy closed now outweigh any benefit it may have in respect of Covid-19.

(Funny that J-School has a math tutor; math and science programs don’t have tutors in basic grammar.)
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