Dear Editor,
I don’t understand why the media coverage of COVID-19 hasn’t included any mention of the H1N1 virus. It was compared to SARS, but H1N1 was also a respiratory virus that was declared a global pandemic, and according to the Centre for Disease Control, it killed hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, as many as 575,000. And that was only 11 years ago, and hardly anybody remembers it.
There was no economic shutdown and the education system stayed open. The thinking seemed to be that it was best to allow students to be exposed to the virus. As teachers, we were told to use fist bumps instead of shaking hands and to cough or sneeze into your arm, and there was lots of hand sanitizer around.
So why have we reacted so differently this time? What evidence did our governments have about COVID-19 that made it look so much worse than H1N1? And we heard the horrifying daily reports on the numbers of deaths in Long Term Care Homes (LTC) but what the media didn’t tell us is these aren’t the happy retirement homes you see advertised on television.
According to palliativealliance.ca, almost 50 per cent of LTC residents die each year, and they argue that LTC Homes are the hospice of the future. It’s hard to disagree if you look at the resident stats in a 2019 report from oltca.com, which reveals that these are our most fragile citizens. About 86 per cent need daily help with dressing, feeding, and in the bathroom; 64 per cent have dementia; 61 per cent take at least 10 medications per day, and more. Any virus is a serious threat to residents of long-term care; it doesn’t have to be pandemic.
Our media should also be paying much more attention to countries that didn’t go into total lockdown, like Sweden. They reasoned that the virus couldn’t be contained so locking down the whole economy would be a mistake. There were some stories, with most condemning their approach as too risky, but nobody knows that until we see how this plays out. Since we aren’t following the national pandemic plan developed in 2006, we might be the ones taking the big risks, and we might be winging it a bit, like when it’s ok to be in large crowds all of a sudden, as long as you don’t yell.
According to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, our deficit for the year will be about $260 Billion which increases the federal debt by 34 per cent, and will add billions to our annual interest payments. It’s going to be tough to find money to solve hallway medicine any time soon, and with more baby boomers becoming seniors, where will the money come from to handle those additional costs?
This is our third pandemic in 17 years so there’s a good chance we’ll see another one within a decade, and what will we do then? A $260 billion bill for every pandemic is unsustainable so we better figure this out.
For anybody who thinks that social distancing might eliminate the virus, flattening the curve was only about spreading out the infections. Anybody at risk is still going to be exposed at some point and interestingly enough, H1N1 is part of this year’s flu shot. They’ve had a vaccine for 10 years and it’s still a threat to some.
Whether it’s sensationalism or something else at work, mainstream media doesn’t give us the full perspective on very much. From COVID-19 and climate change, to gun control and the current protests over race, we’re not getting the full story and it ends up either scaring people or making them feel guilty. It’s no wonder mental health concerns and costs are increasing.
Dave Bishop of Haley Station
