As the country heads further toward some kind of state of lockdown – school closure announcements went out in Alberta (but not Saskatchewan) – there is a great deal of garment-rending over what is happening at airports in particular, especially since it appears that there were only a handful of CBSA officers staffing the Toronto airport on Saturday night for hundreds of arrivals. There isn’t a lot of visible screening at airports because that’s proven to be largely ineffective (and most places are screening people before they get on planes), and the bigger message is communication around self-isolation, and some of that may depend on where travellers are coming from – it’s being stated that people arriving from countries with few infections aren’t being given as strenuous of warnings. There are complaints that this wasn’t being effectively communicated by CBSA officials over the weekend, or that some of their pamphlets contained dated information, which is possible, especially given that more measures were announced late Friday afternoon, and weekend capacity for many of these agencies is reduced. (Also it’s been recorded that one CBSA officer from the Toronto airport has been diagnosed with COVID-19, and I’m sure this will be the first of many). A lot of this should be about local public health officials’ communications efforts, rather than expecting CBSA to simply do it all, but I’m not sure that everyone who is freaking out online about this is necessarily understanding areas of jurisdiction and responsibility.
Justin Trudeau is set to announce further measures this afternoon following a Cabinet meeting on Sunday evening, which unfortunately saw a group of Cabinet ministers leaving the meeting being fairly inept at communicating that decisions were taken and that they need time to prepare their implementation (as self-righteous journalists and pundits melted down over Twitter). Apparently nobody understands that these is such a thing as capacity issues and that not everything can happen immediately, even in an extraordinary crisis situation as we appear to find ourselves in.
Meanwhile, here’s another Q&A with infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch on what people should and should not be doing for social distancing. As well, here’s a look through some of the pandemic preparedness guides to show what things could look like if we reach a crisis point. Two infectious disease specialists wonder about the efficacy of draconian measures, particularly if they will spark “containment fatigue.”
Good reads:
- The government is advising Canadians travelling abroad to return home while they are still able to by commercial means.
- Correctional Services of Canada is barring visitors to prisons to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
- In the wake of the Cameron Ortis arrest, Canadian intelligence officials are drafting new policies to deal with insider threats.
- While there are rumours that the Chief of Defence Staff, General Jonathan Vance, is being recommended for a top NATO job, he insists his job is military transformation.
- Some Canadians who served in Afghanistan reflect on what the Trump-led “peace deal” in that country means.
- Here’s a Green Party leadership candidate hoping to attract disgruntled New Democrats and left-leaning Liberals.
Odds and ends:
In my latest Loonie Politics video, I look at how the suspension of parliament will affect the operation of government.
Also, I was late in setting my last YouTube video for wide release in all of last week’s excitement. Here it is:
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“I’m not sure that everyone who is freaking out online about this is necessarily understanding areas of jurisdiction and responsibility. … as self-righteous journalists and pundits melted down over Twitter”
Sadly, it appears humanity is Just Not Ready™ for “going viral” in the age of “going viral”.
I reserve the utmost contempt for the most lowlife of trolls making sexist, vulgar insinuations about PMJT and Minister Joly. I saw on Facebook someone had Photoshopped her face over Marilyn Monroe (with the implication that he is JFK). Deprived of their feeding frenzy over Meghan and Harry, they sic their perverse tabloid-speculation tendencies upon the prime minister and his cabinet instead. Utterly vile.
A crisis like this has the possibility to bring about the better angels of people’s natures. It unfortunately has the stronger likelihood of exposing their absolute worst beliefs and behaviors for all the world to see.
There are formal, and internationally agreed-upon, criteria for designating something as an epidemic and as a pandemic. What I wish would show up in official announcements are the criteria for when the current state of affairs is demoted from pandemic to something less catastrophic. I don’t deny the need to elicit prompt serious cooperative responses from all stakeholders, and the value of scare tactics in doing so. But before we lapse into a state reminiscent of the Goldberg/Rogen movie “This Is The End”, it would be nice for officials to announce what we should be on the lookout for as a sign of things winding back down to normalcy. It may not come quickly, but it will come,and being able to see a small speck of light at the end of a very long tunnel does wonders for morale. There is much planning around things falling apart. And while it is still rather early, I’d love to see some planning for things coming back together. It gives consolation to know that leaders and decision-makers have thought things ALL the way through.
Some scientists are saying “at least” a year. Key words, “at least”. I think this is the new normal until and unless a vaccine is developed. Like 9/11 or Trump’s election. A disastrous event that inevitably changes how we adapt to a new way of life.
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2020/3/17/21181694/coronavirus-covid-19-lockdowns-end-how-long-months-years
https://www.thestar.com/politics/political-opinion/2020/03/17/its-the-agonizing-question-no-one-can-answer-when-will-this-be-over.html
Thanks. I’m much less concerned about the “when” than about the “what”, as in “what” should we be looking for to have a sense that “when” is not an eternity away. I understand fully that when is not the predictable certainty that the great orange one describes.
Some 70 or more years back, learning theorist Clark Hull posited that motivation would be sustained by the associations between events leading up to some desired goal, and the desired goal. In whatever way the notion of “Not long now” is manifested in lab rats, that would keep them running down vilestonesery lengthy mazes. It’s akin to the way seeing landmarks outside your hometown re-energizes you, and perks up your driving. We need some “not long now” landmarks to look for.
Jeez I hate how the cursor randomly jumps around on my tablet! The paragraph *should* say:
“Some 70 or more years back, learning theorist Clark Hull posited that motivation would be sustained by the associations between events leading up to some desired goal, and the desired goal. In whatever way the notion of “Not long now” is manifested in lab rats, that would keep them running down very lengthy mazes. It’s akin to the way seeing landmarks outside your hometown re-energizes you, and perks up your driving. We need some “not long now” landmarks/milestones to look for.