But, this sluggishness could help raise a deadly second wave in Canada, which is now pulling the capacity of hospitals in almost every region of the country as health authorities impose more restrictions and lockdowns.
“From what you say we are better than the worst country in the world,” says Amir Ataran, a Canadian professor of law and public health at the University of Ottawa, in an interview with CNN.
For months, Ataran has been an unfair critic, warning that by measuring itself against the American yardstick, Canada’s Covid-19 response would fail.
And deceive it.
“In the last few days, we’ve seen new records of Covid-19 cases in many provinces. Hospitals are being lost, families are losing people and we’re at the most vulnerable risk. Just because we’re not getting close to vaccines.” “That doesn’t mean we can’t be happy,” he warned during a press conference on Monday.
So, what went wrong?
“You don’t need to run a community transmission near almost anything or anything and then do aggressive testing contact tracing and isolation that we never did,” says Attran.
During the first wave of the Covid-19, Canadians are largely consistent, cautious, and serious about staying home, following the orders given by health and public health officials. And the epidemic was rarely politicized.
But early in the fall, Canadian public health officials warned that private, household gatherings would lead to a surge in cases and community transmission.
Canada’s numbers are moving in the wrong direction
For several summer days, no deaths have been reported from Covid-19 in Canadian government data.
Through almost every step of Covid-1tra tracking, Canada is still in the U.S. Is moving better than ever, but Canadian officials have warned that the hospital’s capacity is reaching its peak and community transmission should be reduced.
But again, public health experts warn that Canadians should rest a little more than Americans.
Lack of adequate testing
For weeks now, the Public Health Agency of Canada has reported that an average of 75,000 Canadians are tested daily. That means Canada is a U.S. Is testing at about half the rate per capita.
Public health experts say Canada should be more aggressive with testing to bring down community transmission and detect asymptomatic spreads.
Lack of testing has allowed residents of nursing and retirement homes in Canada to be traumatized by the virus, according to a report released Monday by Canada’s largest long-term care operators.
And there is still a lack of adequate testing in these facilities.
“… Nevertheless, it was widely understood that long-term care residents were at risk of serious complications and extremely high risk of death from Covid-19, and so much was gained from testing, prioritizing them and their caring staff. Not provided for testing within the system, according to a report titled “A Perfect Storm”.
Vaccines are coming but the timeline is an issue
Trudeau has said for weeks that Canada has secured one of the world’s “most diverse” vaccine portfolios, and a CNN analysis of government procurement agreements shows that Canada could easily get 4 times the vaccine needed to vaccinate its population of one million. People.
That’s the timeline that is the problem.
Trudeau announced during a press conference in Tt Towa on Monday that Canada has entered into an agreement with Pfizer to begin early delivery of up to 249,000 doses of its vaccine candidate.
But Canada’s 2020 vaccine rollout is largely symbolic as it represents only a fraction of the 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine that Canada says it has pre-purchased.
Trudeau said late last month that due to Canada’s low vaccination capacity, other counties such as the US, UK and Germany would be able to vaccinate their citizens at a faster rate than Canada.
Addressing these earlier remarks, Trudeau said “we do not want to further the hopes of the people.”
The Pfizer vaccine candidate is expected to be approved by Health Canada in a few days and is currently reviewing data from three other candidates, including Moderna, Astra-Zeneca and Johnson and Johnson.
The concern is that despite the aggressive acquisition, Canadians will be vaccinated later than citizens of the United States and Europe.
“It’s a shock, I didn’t really expect Canada to be late when I warned that I was right,” Atter said. It’s heartbreaking, it really is. It will be heartbreaking because it will cost lives. “
Multi-week lockdown doesn’t seem to be working
In recent weeks, the tone of public health officials across the country has been the same: they are urging Canadians to stay home, away from each other and wear masks.
It has been backed by a variety of lockdowns and new restrictions in cities and towns across the country, including major urban centers such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. But there is not much evidence that lockdowns and controls are having a significant impact on infection rates.
During a press conference on Monday, Toronto’s medical officer, Dr. “The case count is so high that I can call it a very serious situation,” said Eileen de Villa.
She said the virus had spread so aggressively in the city that she did not want to think about what the case load would be if Toronto did not enter the lockdown.
There is a similar story in the province of Alberta where sanctions, tied to a complete lockdown, have failed to stop the increase in community transition.
Canada now has one of the highest per capita rates of infection in Alberta.
“I’m going to be frank, yet we’re not turning the tide, we’re still seeing a very high transmission of the virus that is putting a lot of pressure on our hospitals, intensive care units and healthcare workers,” said Dr. Dina Hinsha. , Alberta’s chief medical officer at a press conference on Monday.
Ataran says Alberta and other Canadian territories, with strict enforcement believing they are saving the economy, failed to bring it down as soon as possible.
“What Canada has done wrong is done wrong in many parts of the world, and that is that their politicians have chosen to treat the virus like a shareholder that you can cut deals with,” Attara added. To bring the rate under control.
The government takes steps to help financially
From the beginning of the epidemic, Trudeau has tried to reassure Canadians that he had “their backs.” And he has delivered on that promise to millions of Canadians in cash.
These programs receive 1, 500 to 500 1,500 per month for several months, ranging from unemployment benefits and direct payments to individuals through the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) to one-third of some Canadian adults.
Add to that the wage and rent subsidy program for business owners, payments for students and people with disabilities, and special programs for fishermen and farmers.
Trudeau says programs and money will keep coming until the epidemic subsides.
However, it is not clear what impact the spending will have on the Canadian economy in the long run.
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