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I am writing this blog-post on the morning of Saturday April 18th after learning that a stay-at-home order has been extended in Ontario until May 20th. At one time I was charitable and attributed the actions of all three levels of government to incompetence driven by at its core a legitimate fear. But it’s past time giving these authoritarians the benefit of the doubt. They are ignoring the science. They are ignoring the objective and incontrovertible facts. Nietzsche, who understood the human condition, said it best: “There is will to power where there is life… the will to power is stronger than the will to survive.” Petty tyrants are clinging to their arbitrary authority the way a miser clings to loose change and it’s time to call them out on it.
The evidence is abundant. Even one of the propaganda mouthpieces of the federal government, Statistics Canada, won’t hide the obvious. Here’s the link to a study that Stats Can issue one month ago:
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/210310/dq210310c-eng.htm.
I would encourage you to read it word for word to assure yourself that I’m not distorting its conclusions.
Here are the key findings: From January to mid-December 2020, “excess deaths” in Canada were estimated at 14,000 compared to what would have been suffered if there were no pandemic. 14,000 in a country with a population of 35,000,000 is rounding error. But the indifference and gross negligence of those who fashion public policy is captured when you read further and now I’ll quote at length:
“In the early months of the pandemic, the weekly number of excess deaths and deaths caused by COVID-19 were closely aligned and mostly affected older populations, suggesting that COVID-19 itself was driving excess mortality in Canada. However, more recently, the number of excess deaths has been higher than the number of deaths due to COVID-19, and these deaths are affecting younger populations, suggesting that other factors, including possible indirect impacts of the pandemic, are now at play.”
I’m going to explain that paragraph. I will use short sentences and simple words in case any MPs, MPPs, or municipal politicians are reading this. The public policy embraced to combat COVID-19 is killing more people than would be dying from COVID-19 alone.
This from the Stats Can release: In Ontario, the number of deaths attributable to heart disease is up five percent year over year. There is not a single credible public health expert who does not believe that there is a strong causal relationship between higher levels of stress and death from heart disease. There is not a single person with an iota of common sense who does not believe that lockdowns contribute to higher levels of stress.
This from the Stats Can release: In Alberta, the number of deaths attributable to overdoses went from 170 to 220 year over year. There is not a credible public health expert who does not believe that there is a strong causal relationship between unemployment and poverty and substance abuse. There is not a single person with an iota of common sense who does not believe that lockdowns contribute to higher unemployment and poverty and substance abuse.
There is a simple solution, one that should have been adopted after the first lockdown one year ago. Life should return to “normal” immediately, and each organization should choose its own policies, and individuals should assess their own level of risk and act accordingly.
There’s a reason why I put the word “normal” in quotation marks. Because it might not be “normal” in the sense of what life was like pre-COVID.
Let’s take restaurants as an example. They would be free to accommodate indoor seating immediately. My guess is that most would reduce the number of tables to make patrons feel more comfortable. But they wouldn’t have to. My guess is that most would require their staff to wear masks while serving tables. That would be each restaurant’s choice. Then based on those policies, customers would make their own decisions about where they wanted to take their business. No-one would be forced to do anything that they did not want to do.
Would people continue to die from COVID-19? Of course. That’s happening anyway. The choice comes down to this: Is it better that 1,000 elderly and/or people with pre-existing conditions die from COVID-19 or is better than 1,000 elderly and/or people with pre-existing conditions die from COVID-19 and another 100 younger people die in addition to that?
With this latest lockdown, our elected officials are choosing the second option. They are choosing a path that is devastating some sectors of the economy; they are choosing a path that will result in more, not fewer deaths.
It is time to demand that the stay-at-home order ends immediately, that is, if you truly care about public health.