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I have seen this article on my Facebook feed. As an RN working in the ICU in #yyc, a few #thoughts for my first thread. 
#ableg #abpoli
https://c2cjournal.ca/2020/12/every-store-and-school-should-be-open-confronting-the-pandemic-with-confidence/?fbclid=IwAR1mItpAQ8xP4-3WnRoXKB9bt0_EWa04lej1w3fPv0lktwRxE-9C7eLOak4
#ableg #abpolihttps://c2cjournal.ca/2020/12/every-store-and-school-should-be-open-confronting-the-pandemic-with-confidence/?fbclid=IwAR1mItpAQ8xP4-3WnRoXKB9bt0_EWa04lej1w3fPv0lktwRxE-9C7eLOak4
I have more than a few problems with this article and the sentiment that goes along with it.
First, this is from the perspective of a counter terrorism expert, which is a different crisis than a public health crisis, and so his advice should be taken with a grain of salt. He is not an expert in public health or infectious disease.
The common thought that there is a trade off between saving the economy OR peoples health is a false dichotomy. It doesn't have to be save the economy or prevent people from dying. We can do both!
There is research that shows countries who have contained the virus well have had less severe economic impacts than countries who haven't. You cannot have an economy if everyone is dying, or if people are afraid to leave the house to go to stores and spend their money.
Even if containing the virus was not helpful to the economy, this idea that peoples lives are worth less than the economy is absurd to me. "Instead we keep hearing that every death from Covid-19 is tragedy and that a single life is more important than the economy."
Just read that quote again... That is so cold and brutal. Every life lost should be a tragedy, it is not just another number. That is someones mom or dad, sister/brother, love of someones life. That is tragic, no matter what the cause.
Another problematic quote... "We also need to train the public about what Covid-19 really means. It is almost always not fatal unless you are old and have a comorbidity." His definition of "old" by the way is over 65.
Comorbidities that have been linked to severe outcomes for COVID-19 include hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes (type 1 and 2), and heart disease -- all of which are extremely common.
If it is the case that we should only be worried about people with those prior health conditions or those over the age of 65, then I should be worried about my mom, both grandparents, aunties, and basically my entire family. I am sure most others are in the same boat.
@CMOH_Alberta has also highlighted that most of these prior health conditions are not, on their own, fatal. These are chronic conditions, which many people can manage for a very long time without becoming acutely ill.
Redman also makes the sweeping statement that, "We've stopped caring about other health factors such as cancer, heart disease, and dementia," to which my response is WHO? Who has stopped caring about this?
The healthcare system needs to have the capacity to deal with these health problems AND COVID-19. We have examples of healthcare systems that don't have any more capacity to deal with health issues outside of COVID-19.
For instance, we can look at states in the US, such as South Dakota: healthcare workers are being told to work even if they have tested positive for COVID-19, as long as they don't have symptoms. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/11/14/934185297/covid-19-hospitalizations-surge-in-dakotas-its-like-we-opened-up-a-spigot
People are being flown out of the state into neighbouring state hospitals because they no longer have beds available.
Returning to Canada, let's think about who we are. Fortunately, Statistics Canada quantitatively paints this picture well:
Number of people in Canada with some of the previously mention health conditions: High blood pressure - 5,570,200 (2019). Diabetes - 2,495,100 (2019).
People over the age of 65 in Canada: 6,835,866 (2020) - 18% of Canadians
People over the age of 65 in Canada: 6,835,866 (2020) - 18% of Canadians
That is a lot of people to be concerned about having a serious or fatal health outcome from Covid-19. Of course we cannot add these numbers together, because the same person can fall into multiple categories.
The article claims that worldwide 96% of Covid-19 deaths are those over 65 years old with multiple comorbidities. That means that the other 4% are previously healthy individuals which about 66,721 people (using John Hopkins COVID death toll). https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
Those 66,721 people MATTER, as do the other 1,601,309 deaths.
Lastly, as I work in the ICU and I watch people fighting for their lives and sadly watch some die from COVID-19, I can assure you it is a brutal disease and a terrible way to die. It is easy to just get caught up in the numbers, but each of those numbers is a person. #ableg
We know how COVID-19 is spread and we should be doing all we can to prevent it so people do not have to go through this.
The holidays this year will be challenging -- I want to see my family just like everyone. That said, let's do what we know works: stay home if you can, wear a mask, stay physically distant but socially connected, and be kind. #ableg
We don't need to choose between public health and the economy -- we can have both, and we can do this. #ableg
