Editor:
(Re: July 10 letter to the editor, Health Unit caves to hysteria, requiring masks, by Donna Baylis.) That is a long reach into the well of obscurity in selecting Senator Scott Jensen to support a position. It is true he is an MD and practices as a family doctor but he has shown little experience in the field of Public Health or Epidemiology. It is also true, and conveniently absent from your letter, that he is currently under investigation by the Minnesota Board of Medical Practices for his deliberate spread of misinformation regarding COVID-19 and the CDC guidance on death certificates. His statements and positions are also available on and widely shared by followers of the conspiracy theory websites QAnon and Infowars.
Canada has managed this pandemic using a fact based, scientific approach and has done relatively well when compared to other free, democratic countries. We have an army of very experienced professionals in the field of Public Health and Infectious disease control to draw upon for advice and example. Doctors Teresa Tam, Bonnie Henry, David Williams and Issac Bogoch come to mind, not to mention all the local Public Health authorities. They all support wearing a face mask, as the science develops around a previously unknown pathogen in the human species.
If wealth redistribution is a concern, it happens all the time in society irrespective of Covid. I suggest the large tech giants are a significant issue too. There are always some who make out like bandits. This is not a conspiracy to create inequity, even though some communities, like the poor and marginalized, have been more seriously affected than others and many people will lose jobs. The only hysteria I have seen or am aware of has been displayed by persons aggressively objecting to the wearing of masks because they have “rights” or are dripping with entitlement. People who wear masks show respect for the other people around them by minimizing the chance of transmission.
We all want to get back to normal or the new normal, whatever that is. Being part of the solution will make that happen faster. Look no further than our southern neighbours for an example of a poorly executed response governed by misinformation, entitlement and inaction. They have 135,000 deaths over approximately four months and California is beginning to close down again. We certainly don’t want that. As Ontario is about to enter Stage 3, our own behavioural sets will chart the course of the ongoing response to this pandemic, for good or bad. It is an actual disease in pandemic, not hysteria. Science and data prove this in not… “just a little flu.”
I will always choose fact, science and expert advice over misinformation, entitlement, conspiracy think and statements from quack politicians.
Mike MacDonald,
Mulmur.