For what it's costing every week to care for COVID patients in hospital in Ontario, you could give every student & teacher a respirator for the rest of the school year & possibly cut community cases, hospitalizations & deaths in half (or close to it).
Huh. 🤔
You know what else?
For what it's costing every week to care for COVID patients in hospital in Ontario, you could give every hospital worker, visitor & patient a respirator for the next 2 years & likely cut cases, hospitalizations & deaths another 25% (or close to it).
Bonus: You could preserve your hospital workforce & virtually eliminate other airborne HAIs for no extra cost.
Huh. 🤔
Just a thought. 🤷♂️
PS - I'm biased. I sell respirators. They work. So does the math. 😊
The impact of the global pandemic was underestimated by most Western governments including Canada. The response was mismanaged, first with laissez-faire measures, disbelief and denial, then by panic buying and public health measures including lockdowns in 2020.
This was followed by wishful thinking that vaccines would solve the pandemic problem. In 2021, pro-vaccine public health messaging was directed to minimize public sentiment toward NPIs including Safe Air & Masks.
This “vax & relax” anti-NPI “return to normal” messaging continued to build even after it became apparent to governments that vaccines could not & would not stop the pandemic.
Finally, in 2022, mask mandates were dropped & public masking dropped from 80% to 5%.
Mythical Ace Reporter to Public Health Official:"Does mass infection of children lead to mass numbers of children at risk for increased likelihood & severity of common infections like colds, flu & RSV leading to mass hospitalization & shortages of Advil, Tylenol & Antibiotics?"
Follow-up question: "Do you, in your role in Public Health, think it's now time to warn the public about the danger to their children & mandate universal masking? And if not, why not?"
"How and when do you plan to warn the public that masks should be sealed, as in masks should be respirators? And if not, why not?"
I met w my accountant of 20 years yesterday. Immediately upon seeing me in my respirator Gord asked, "Do you want me to wear a mask?"
This time I said "Yes. I want you to wear it as much for you as for me. I like you and I want you to be safe."
That led to a lot of discussion. Gord wasn't concerned about Covid because public health isn't concerned & talk of precautions have disappeared from the media as have masks from ppls faces.
However Gord's son is a Cardiothoracic surgeon who has told his dad about how serious COVID is so Gord was open-minded about discussing & learning about masking and risk and Long COVID & immune dysregulation & repeat infections.
CoVID is the biggest global health and socio-economic disruptor since WWII. It presents both the biggest challenge and the biggest opportunity of our lifetime.
When CoVID hit in early 2020, governments were slow to act. Then they panicked, overspent on scarce PPE and equipment, and locked down in the absence of vaccines.
They invested in a domestic PPE industry and ventilation only to lose interest when vaccines were announced.