Re: Jealous of the US COVID freedoms? Don't Be

Ed Puszkar | May 26, 2021

Yes, you are right, the vaccination rates in the US are significantly higher than in Canada. Of course, they don’t have a federal leader that bought enough vaccines to provide 4 doses for everyone; yet, only 4% of all Canadians are fully vaccinated (gov of Cda). Even now some eligible people locally, are waiting over 2 months for a single shot while our illustrious Premier is urging everyone to get a shot as soon as possible so that the restrictions can be lifted.

Although you present interesting statistics pertaining to case rates and death rates, there are other numbers to be seen for comparison. Ontario (pop. 14 million) has had 520,000 cases (3.7%) and 8500 deaths (0.006%) (PHO). From Johns Hopkins University, for comparison purposes, Taiwan (pop. 24 million) has had 3,900 cases (0.001%) and 17 deaths. Their population density is significantly higher than that of Ontario, and their vaccination rate (300,000 fully vaccinated) is significantly lower than ours. Yes, I know, you can always show me worse numbers, but what are the Taiwanese doing right that we should know? It’s fine to dwell on the worse statistics occasionally, but we need to see the others.

With respect to our economy, you presented some interesting numbers. Of course, these numbers don’t reflect the thousands of small business owners that have closed shop because of the lock-downs. This is a factor that will have a long range impact on our economy that cannot be simply reflected in the unemployment rate. As for the ‘most impacted sector’, tourism, they needed to be opening for this Victoria Day weekend, not at the end of this summer. It will be a very small consolation to them when they are permitted to open up after Labour Day, if they are lucky.

Most interesting was your comment that: “we will be safe from COVID by the end of the summer” assuming that vaccination rates improve. I would love to know your definition of ‘safe’. Are you implying that we can expect the virus to be eradicated in the foreseeable future? According to the CDC and Canadian health experts, even if you have had the virus, you still need to have the vaccine which begs the question of what is the term of effectiveness of the vaccine – no obvious answer. Even our Premier is hinting at the coming of the 4th wave. Dr. Tam is advocating still wearing a mask indoors even after vaccination – why? If one has been fully vaccinated are we still vulnerable to the virus? If so, we will never get rid of the mask and why bother with the vaccine? If the reason is to protect those that are not yet vaccinated, then how can the virus be transmitted from a vaccinated individual to someone else? Various experts state that no vaccine is 100% effective, but, (as you have previous pointed out) at what point do we start living ‘normal ‘ lives. If this is the reason for masks, then why haven’t we been wearing masks for the past few decades to protect us against influenza? When will the politicians, who should take everything into account, (not just the medical factors) give us firm, unequivocal guidance?

As a final point, I would love to know where our fearless Premier gets his hair cut, especially since all personal services have been locked-down.

Ed Puszkar