Thread by @PennyDaflos

595 people died in last year’s heat dome
Today’s #bcpoli announcement is touted as lots of behind-the-scenes work to prevent that kind of death-toll again
But it’s underwhelming — because they already had most of it in place!
No exaggeration 🧵 1/
bc.ctvnews.ca/b-c-expands-al…

As I reported last year in what may be the most frustrating piece I produced (which is really saying something) WE ALREADY HAD A HEAT ALERT SYSTEM but FEW KNEW ABOUT IT
It was a catastrophic failure of stakeholder & public health messaging/communication 2/
bc.ctvnews.ca/metro-vancouve…

It’s horrifying to me that people kept dying even after the heat had started abating
That’s partly why the death toll kept changing 3/
bc.ctvnews.ca/dying-for-week…

Todays big news is they’re integrating AlertReady emergency text alerts w extreme heat advisories, which sounds great on the surface
But those responsible have either been frozen by indecision or misunderstood the tech
Are they actually ready to use it? 4/
bc.ctvnews.ca/misinformation…

Perhaps the impression little has changed shouldn’t come as a surprise considering the attitude of the premier, who later apologized for his callous remark in his giddiness at reaching a new reopening phase of the pandemic
We have seen this is a very top-down government 5/

https://twitter.com/PennyDaflos/status/1409997657532215299

I believe no one wants a repeat of such a tragedy, but we forgot the lessons of the last deadly heat wave (see below) and I fear we’re doomed to more of the same in the interest of “avoiding panic”which public officials have cited before 6/
bc.ctvnews.ca/documents-offe…

It’d be nice if this government clearly communicated and discussed risk, acknowledged mistakes of past responses and worked to DO better instead of being SEEN to do better, which seems to be a big priority
I don’t think that’s unreasonable, so let’s dream big, shall we? 7/7

P.s. I’m on a day off but yes, I watched the presser anyway and this is my analysis, because after Covid, work and not-work days have no separation for me anymore 🥲

@BhinderSajan has today’s story and I’m back to the garden 👋
bc.ctvnews.ca/b-c-expands-al…
8/7