Politics and evidence-based science, it's a strange brew.
With apologies to any readers who are plain tired of the pandemic, wishing something will go away unfortunately doesn’t work.
Masks were noticeably absent at the recent Wings Over Springbank airshow, as was anything remotely approaching a buffer zone between people. Expect more of the same this month at upcoming festivals and fairs.
Governments around the world removed restrictions earlier this year, leading us to believe we could return to “a new normal.” They did so in spite of warnings from public health experts that it was too soon, that we were risking falling into an endless pandemic as new variants continue to surface.
The public health experts were right. Hospitalizations are creeping up again in Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario, and Alberta. As we wade though the seventh wave, is it even worthwhile numbering them anymore?
The new variants are more aggressive, more transmissible and more successful at avoiding immunity – natural or vaccine-generated. The more transmissions there are, the more opportunity for the virus to mutate.
New variants will strain our stressed-out health care system and an already wobbly economy. The same public health officials we love to ignore are cautioning us anew, with warnings of what another new variant might mean.
Add to all that the new research out of Ontario last week indicating that repeated COVID-19 infections may be prematurely aging immune systems, leading to persistent inflammation and increasing susceptibility to things like diabetes, strokes, and cardiovascular problems.
'What doesn't kill me makes me stronger' doesn't quite have the same ring to it as before.
Meanwhile, candidates for the leadership of Alberta's United Conservative Party are guaranteed big cheers when they criticize how officials have handled the pandemic. This appeal to our vanishing freedom is easily harvested low-hanging fruit.
Last week, Alberta's top doctor Dr. Deena Hinshaw said, “I encourage parents and guardians to speak to a trusted health-care provider for questions about their child’s health, including questions about COVID-19 and immunization.”
People don’t even trust doctors anymore – traditionally the highest-ranking profession in surveys measuring public trust. But epidemiologists have never seen a virus behave like this.
Six Alberta physicians have had their practices restricted because they flouted COVID-related public health rules. Some of the doctors in trouble are appealing the rulings, claiming freedom of speech is being taken away.
South of the border, the defense of freedom of speech goes a step further. Republicans in Tennessee have introduced legislation protecting physicians from being disciplined by regulators for spreading COVID falsehoods. Only 55 percent of Tennessee's population has been double-vaccinated. The state has more than four times as many COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 people as Ontario.
Here at home, we sail into uncharted waters, unsure of how reliable our compass is. The challenge for public health experts in the rolling waves ahead – when numbers almost inevitably spike again – will be how to convince people to listen when there is little or no appetite for the message, and so much noise disguised as fact.
So much information, so little time. It’s a lot.
While we can’t wish it all away, we can for now strive for clarity. We can at least put the free speech argument to bed. Freedom of speech does not extend to spreading misinformation.
