I apologize for not posting more frequently. First, someone is reading my posts as I write them. He or she may have the best intentions. Still, I have always worked alone. Although I have read and continue to read books and articles on Molière and insert quotations in learned articles, I usually present a significantly personal analysis of Molière.
It seems, however, that I may henceforth publish shorter posts. Last Wednesday, I tried to do some online banking. However, the company has created a new and safer version of its online tools. I followed the instructions, and a message appeared confirming that all was well. However, I could not log in.
So I phoned the company and waited for a few minutes until someone was available, but I started to cry when a young man answered. Technologies are a genuine obstacle, and technical problems may trigger a vulnerability. At any rate, within a few minutes, two large policemen were inside my apartment. I put on my mask, and we spoke.
I mentioned that my cat had died on 29 November 2019 and that it would soon be a year since he died. Moreover, I had been inside my apartment since March, avoiding the coronavirus. As well, in the space of three years, I had failed to settle in my apartment. Finally, Sherbrooke is now a red zone. One cannot call a carpenter, until a degree of safety has been reached. Who would help during a pandemic?
One of the policemen suggested I adopt a cat, and one offered to remove a heavy box from the hallway. They were good persons. I thanked them because I felt much better. It had been an accident.
One returns to life as usual, a narrower life because of Covid-19, but life.
However, I reflected that in the days of the coronavirus, if a citizen of Sherbrooke, Quebec, feels distraught, his or her best help could be the police. They are available twenty-four hours a day and they make house calls.
Agnello di Dio, particolare della Crocefissione di Matthias Grünewald (it.wikipedia)
I have already reported that thousands of young people flouted the rules on Saturday 23 May, in Toronto. It has been suggested that the lockdown had flustered these young people. The lockdown has been difficult for all of us, but despite the gradual relaxation of confinement measures, the coronavirus remains and the young people had to obey regulations. Transmission of the novel coronavirus is rapid and, in too many cases, deadly. I hope the students will now join or cheer the people fighting Covid-19.
The pandemic in Canada is making more victims. Quebec still leads and Premier Legault has asked the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, to deploy the military. It is not altogether normal for the Military to work in long-term care facilities. Their role had to be defined.
Quebec is currently recruiting a large number of orderlies who will receive a decent salary. Their training will be condensed, the need being enormous and urgent. The province is hiring a small army of health care workers.
As you know, their syndicate negotiated for medical doctors, fees up to 2,500$ (1,635.25 Euros) per day, which the government cannot afford. Day-care is also very inexpensive in Quebec, and tuition fees are the lowest in Canada. Combined, such programmes may not be sustainable.
There are Covid-19 cases in the education system. Schools were reopened outside Montreal, but no parent should allow his or her child to attend school. It means hiring help, but help may not be too expensive. There’s no point. One infection multiplies into several infections. Although lockdowns are a form of paralysis, they may be required if citizens do not see that precautions are the freedom they possess. We need certain services and, although the governments are generous, people want to return to work.
Our Prime Minister does not want to offend others, but Canada should not open its border to the United States. Both the United States and Canada need to protect their citizens. A New Brunswick doctor travelled to Quebec and returned to New Brunswick without respecting the 14-day quarantine. He or she had to be suspended. That doctor is a possible and probable source of infection. One does not travel to Quebec, especially Montreal. It’s not safe.
One cannot say that the pandemic has benefits, but Covid-19 has exposed flaws in the system and monsieur Legault spoke to the press in both French and English. Both Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Quebec Premier called in the military. I don’t know how Ontario doctors responded, but, to my knowledge, Quebec could not recruit the medical doctors it needed. I realize that there were risks. Yet, circumstances were and remain dire.
I am revisiting my last post: Chronicling Covid-19 (14): The Mask (15 May 2020). It is not entirely clear and it did not address a serious matter: anxiety among English-speaking Montrealers. The relevant video is at the foot of this post.
I will write first that I did not vote for monsieur Legault, the leader of Coalition Avenir Québec, EN CAQ FR, a party Premier Legault founded.
As we have seen, there are very real problems in Quebec. For instance, the pandemic has brought to the fore the lack of safety in long-term care facilities. This problem exists elsewhere. There has just been a flare-up in Hamilton, Ontario, at the Rosslyn Retirement Residence.
In Quebec, however, 4 out of 5 victims of Covid-19 lived in long-term care facilities, CHSLDs, located in Montreal. The first two persons taken to the Montreal Jewish General Hospital were not diagnosed with Covid-19, but everything soon changed. Further arrivals to the Emergency Room (ER) were infected with Covid-19.
Other victims were the poor living in Montreal North (Montréal-Nord).
Frontline Workers
syndicates
sense of duty
Moreover, at the very beginning of his statement, monsieur Legault asked health-workers who were infected, but had recovered, to return to their duties. This I should have noted. The pandemic revealed considerable reluctance on the part of Quebec doctors to be frontline workers. Their syndicate, these are powerful in Quebec, negotiated fees that could total approximately $2,500.00 per day, which is a large amount of money. Too many lack empathy, a requirement in the case of health workers.
Monsieur Legault is taking the responsibility for his province’s lack of preparedness and will correct problems, such as unsafe long-term care facilities, to the extent that this problem can be corrected. Quebec quickly ran out personal protective equipment, as did other provinces. But there can be no doubt that he had difficulty recruiting health-care workers. Fortunately, as you know, monsieur Legault was able to call on the Canadian Armed Forces. Moreover, there were volunteers. A group of immigrants wanted to help in exchange for being granted citizenship. Would that I could find that video! This is question I must explore further. As well, there were volunteers who cooked free meals that were distributed to various houses and to the frontline workers. Charitable donations should cover the cost of these meals.
The demiurgic figure Urizenprays before the world he has forged by William Blake. (Wikipedia)
Rights and Freedoms
Bill 21
secularization versus protection
anxiety among anglophones
bilingualism
I should also comment on the worries concerning rights and freedoms, expressed by the lady, a journalist who asked a question, or questions, following Premier Legault’s statement. She may have been referring to Quebec’s unthinkable Bill 21 (MacLean’s).
There are other problems in Quebec, some of which the response to the pandemic have exposed. However, after he was elected Premier of Quebec, François Legault and members of his government passed Bill 21, which promotes absolute laïcité, secularization. Monsieur Legault’s predecessor, Dr Philippe Couillard, had attempted to forbid the wearing of clothes that impeded identification of a person. He wanted to protect Quebec citizens, but the matter of rights and freedoms was raised.
If one clicks on burqa, one can see that it is a garment that covers the face and which could also be used to conceal a weapon. Monsieur Couillard was the Premier of Quebec (Premier Ministre) at a time, not so distant, when terrorist attacks were frequent. Protection, not secularization, was Premier Couillard’s goal. However, monsieur Legault and his government introduced Bill 21, An Act respecting the laicity of the State, which was assented on 16 June 2019. Bill 21 affects Civil Servants and it could be considered as an infringement on “rights and freedoms” in Quebec. Muslim women wear veils.
Finally, in a survey conducted recently by Léger Marketing, it was determined that English-speaking Quebecers (68%) feared Covid-19 more than French-speaking citizens of Montreal and Quebec as a province (47%). At first, I could not understand the lady’s question. Canadians were lifting the lockdown when the coronavirus was still active. Consequently, Premier Legault urged the citizens of Quebec to wear a facemask as a protective measure. Who wants to breathe in the virus? In short, the facemask has nothing to do with Quebec’s secularization and Bill 22. But the notion came to the lady’s mind that monsieur Legault’s request could restrict personal rights and freedoms. It didn’t. As I noted, it was a safety measure.
But Christopher Skeete, the parliamentary assistant on relations with English-speaking Quebecers, stated that an “agreement” had been reached and that 800,000 English versions of the government’s COVID-19 self-care guide were sent out. I have my copies. As quoted above, Christopher Skeete, Quebec government’s point man on anglophone affairs “does not see the purpose of dividing the province by language when it comes to gauging the population’s fear of contracting COVID-19.”
In the days of Covid-19, a Premier of Quebec addresses both the province’s French-speaking citizens and its English-speaking citizens. Monsieur Legault, Quebec’s top doctor, Horacio Arruda, and Danielle McCann, Quebec’s Minister of Health, addressed the press in both French and English, as did monsieur Legault.
So far politics has played no role in the pandemic, and there were no significant Anglo-French skirmishes. Monsieur Legault may have expressed impatience, but he has managed the pandemic very well, in both English and French and has followed the same guidelines as other Premiers.
Conclusion
The pandemic in Quebec has made several issues surface, including bilingualism. It would be my opinion, however, that the worst issue monsieur Legault faced was his nearly futile call for frontline workers and helpers. The Quebec government was dealing with a humanitarian disaster. By the way, some schools have reopened. There is a school next to my building, I could hear the children during recreation.
The latest numbers of confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 5:34 p.m. on May 17, 2020:
There are 77,001 confirmed and presumptive cases in Canada.
Total: 77,001 (11 presumptive, 76,990 confirmed including 5,782 deaths, 38,552 resolved)
(19 May 2002: 78,072 cases, 5,842 deaths, 39,228 resolved)
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 17, 2020.
I think the time has come to delight English-speaking Quebecers and everyone else with Le Temps des cerises, (The Days of Cherries, Wikipedia). Our colleague Manuel Cerdá (A mi manera) wrote a post about it: Le Temps des cerises.
The archetype of the Creator is a familiar image in Blake’s work. Here, the demiurgic figure Urizen prays before the world he has forged. The Song of Losis the third in a series of illuminated books painted by Blake and his wife, collectively known as the Continental Prophecies. (Photo and caption credit: Wikipedia)
Covid-19
As Quebec was starting to reopen, Premier, lePremier Ministre, François Legault urged the population of Quebec to wear face masks. His audience was not entirely patient with him. Was this a change of policy?
Let’s see. Two months ago, after the Government of Quebec announced a lockdown. I saw residents of my building huddling by the mailboxes, less than two feet apart. As I was rushing down the hallway to safety, I walked past a woman who was saying that she didn’t believe in this virus. To my knowledge, take-out restaurants, such as McDonalds, were locked down, but I knew about the remains of a chicken that were thrown down the garbage chute, naked. As you know, my neighbours are mostly perfect, but these particular neighbours are not. The remains of a chicken should had been put in a bag and then dropped into one of the composting bins.
After two months of isolation, one may be confused. So, I phoned the authorities in order to ask if a policy was in place regarding the delivery of food to persons living in a condominium or an apartment building. I explained that sons and daughters, holding bags filled with groceries and other supplies, were ringing mother’s apartment and waiting for her in the lobby. Mother came down and picked up the bag or bags. However, delivery men were riding up and down elevators and walking along corridors carrying take-outs. If they came to my building, they also went to other buildings and various houses. They could spread the virus during a lockdown.
The authorities, or the person who took my call, did not know whether a policy existed, but she felt that social distancing precluded the delivery of meals to an individual’s apartment. Owners were to go to the lobby and pick up what they had ordered. I therefore suggested to the Committee that, during a lockdown, it seemed somewhat risky to let people circulate in the hallways. In fact, I wondered why we did not have a concierge monitoring access to apartments. The telephone and television system did not go the distance. Could we presume individual owners would be cautious? No, I thought, not if they threw down the chute, unwrapped, the greasy remains of a chicken. These neighbours must be newcomers.
We now return to Quebec’s Premier. I reflected that if François Legault was urging people to wear a mask, it was not a change of policy, but altogether consistent with lifting the lockdown when the coronavirus remained a genuine threat. The government feared that allowing untested people to return to work may lead to flareups, hence the Premier asking, but not dictating, the wearing of a mask. This led to more impatience. Why wasn’t the wearing of masks compulsory (“obligatory” said monsieur Legault)? He explained that it was not “obligatory” because masks were not easily available. Canada had ordered masks from China, which had arrived, but which were defective. They were not approved by Health Canada. Ironically, Canadian-approved N95 masks were being sought by Chinese counterfeiters. In short, some Quebecers do not have access to masks.
As you know, Covid-19 caught everyone unawares. For instance, the novel coronavirus hit Montreal like a bomb. It was a Canadian version of the “tsunami” Milan’s doctor Giacomo Grasselli had described so aptly. (See The Coronavirus. 3). The outbreak of Covid-19 surprised Italians just as it surprised Canada’s doctors, in Montreal especially.
The outbreak has therefore led to decisions, some of which were revisited and reversed. I should tell you that the Quebec government will not reopen schools, Montreal schools, in particular, until September. Some daycares remained open during the lockdown. Given flareups, reopening schools on May 19th was not appropriate. Flareups herald a second wave of Covid-19 that could be the same as the second wave of the Spanish flu of 1918, deadlier than the initial outbreak.
In Quebec, Muslims cannot wear the burqa, but the government was approving the wearing of facemasks. Was this another contradiction? A burqa conceals the face and the body. It can therefore be used to conceal a weapon. Masks cover the nose and mouth as do certain Islamic veils, but the purpose of masks is protection from a virus one can inhale. The virus is a weapon.
No, it was not a contradiction. The coronavirus enters one’s nose and mouth. Coughing has therefore become a potentially lethal weapon. If one is infected with the virus and coughs without wearing a mask, one may inadvertently spread the highly transmissible coronavirus to a person who does not wear personal protective equipment. If everyone wears a mask, everyone is protected to a significant extent. The mask is not a violation of a person’s privacy, but protective personal equipment, which explains why Premier Legault is urging Quebecers who are re-entering the workplace to wear a mask. The virus may be with us for a very long time and it is coriace, tough, coriace as coriace can be.
Distancing saves lives. It would therefore be my opinion that until our top doctors and scientists find a vaccine or a cure, good masks are our only protection.
I agree with Premier Legault. If one re-enters the workplace, one wears a mask. A mask could allow us to revive our hope and let us rebuild our economy. We can now see the Himalayas, not to mention the stars. The new economy should be a different economy, one that does not pollute the air and cause global warming. However, Premier Legault linked the wearing of a mask to a revival of the economy we know. The two are inextricably linked:
Opening up businesses could hinge on Montrealers wearing masks in public — something Legault has been pushing for several days.
“We will still give ourselves a few days to take a decision on retail businesses,” Legault said. “A crucial element that would help us to reopen is for the majority of people to wear a mask in public.” (The National Gazette)
It may be years before the coronavirus is defeated. Scientists may find a vaccine and a cure, but this may not happen in the near future. Working from home can be extremely difficult and it is at times impossible. So if masks can protect us, let us wear masks.
I’ve been away for a long time. I had to attend to various little duties and I remain very sad. So many have died and they are mostly older people, the poor, the black, the homeless. Covid-19 does not discriminate, but too many victims had no shelter or false shelters.
For my part, an old injury resurfaced: ulcers. I also remembered my mother teaching us that death, God Himself, came in the night, like a thief, and took us away. Vigilance was necessary. We prayed before going to bed, but all I had to ask God was to wait another day. Asking for more would burden Him. Scheherazade told the first part of a tale that so intrigued the king that he let her live another day to hear the remainder. He didn’t kill her until the story had been told in full. Centuries later, perhaps millennia, a little child in Quebec prayed so her death would be postponed by one more day.
As you can see, Covid-19 has taken its toll on me. Why am I thinking that death will take me in the middle of the night? That feeling is best described as archaic, but we die.
Schools
Today’s big debate in Quebec and the rest of Canada is whether and when to reopen schools. Life at home with the children may be too difficult. In theory, schools were to reopen on Monday, May 4th, but although governments have a duty to provide children with an education, reopening was postponed until May 19th , but the government will not demand that parents send their children to school. Reopening may again be postponed. The virus is still active and remains lethal in too many cases. Viruses run their course and find epicenters. The State of New York and New York city were the United States’ epicenter. I hope therefore that United States President Trump will bail out the State of New York. In Canada, Quebec was targeted and Montreal was Covid-19’s epicenter. All one could do was create rules of engagement: washing one’s hand, distancing, wearing a mask and locking down infested areas.
We have learned, however, that long-term care facilities could not cope with this new reality. One could not distance patients or residents so, the staff of these homes were overwhelmed. Many walked out for fear of catching an easily transmissible virus.
We have also learned that certain populations were more vulnerable than others. The old are at risk, but also the black. Scientists have therefore begun studying vulnerability. I quoted Dr. Vinh-Kim Nguyen in my last post. (See RELATED ARTICLE) Dr Vinh-Kim Nguyen has been studying Aids/Sida, and his regional area of expertise is West Africa (see Dr Vinh-Kim Nguyen). Studying regions, populations, and the origin of a pathogen is legitimate. Other scientists study the benefits and harm attached to confinement.
Canada’s top doctor, Dr Theresa Tam is continuing to focus on her work, despite allegations of conspiracy with China. Determining the origin of the outbreak is necessary, but accusing Dr Theresa Tam of conspiracy with China smacks of racism. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland has defended Dr Tam.
One of the good news is that an antibody could prevent infections. This is progress. But we are dealing with the novel coronavirus. It is a new virus and it may have infected people months before its breakout in Wuhan.
It has been noted that the poor are at risk. Montreal’s outbreak has affected the residents of Montreal-North. Its residents are poor. They do not have computers, cell phones. In short, they did not have access and protective garments (PPE). Finding masks, gloves and shields, PPE, has bedeviled the pandemic, but it killed the poor and the homeless. Shame on us.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling for a national policy on contact tracing, even at this point. Had such a policy been put into place at an early date, it would have lessened the severity of the pandemic. But it seems we were all caught by surprise.
However, testing is slow, which is the main problem. Had it worked immediately, the Spartan cube could have helped determine who was infected and who wasn’t. This would have benefited the economy. However, the Spartan Cube has not proven as reliable “in person” as it did in a lab. Adjustments have to be made. This is a sign of the times. Covid-19 is a new virus and we were not prepared when it hit.
Both Doug Ford, Ontario’s Premier and François Legault, Quebec’s premier, hesitate to lift the lockdown. It could backfire, so everyone is worried.
There is some validity to the notion of herd immunity, but there can be no doubt that self isolating and distancing have spared countless lives. It is as in Giovanni Boccacci’s Decameron. Therefore, Premiers Doug Ford of Ontario and François Legault of Quebec are not pushing people back to work. They are testing, and testing, and testing, but cannot test everyone.
I believe this is my last post on the pandemic. It tested us and researchers will have much to study. I have in fact discovered areas of learning. Our top doctors are the heroes of the day. Dr Bonnie Henry of British Columbia looks very tired, but women want to purchase the shoes she wears. Premiers Doug Ford and François Legault joined hands in battling a common enemy that has yet to be defeated. There may be a second and a third wave. I expect changes in many sectors.
I was shocked when I realized the extent to which Covid-19 affected Montreal and decided one could not like a post containing the following information:
half of Canada’s victims of the Covid-19 pandemic live in Quebec;
the province of Quebec is failing its elderly citizens;
20,000 of Canadian cases of Covid-19 were Québécois.
Finding helpers
On the 8th of April, police found neglected seniors in a long-term facility: Herron. This facility is private, but private nursing homes are nevertheless subsidized, to a point, by the Quebec government. Conditions drew a parallel with concentration camps.
Given this emergency, Premier François Legault and Health Minister Danielle McCann called on teachers to help in nursing homes, the CHSLDs (Centre d’hébergement et de soins de longue durée [long term care facilities]).
Teachers
On Friday, the 10th of April, Quebec’s Premier, François Legault and Health Minister Danielle McCann tried to “force employees in the education sector to help in the health sector.” Schools were closed and the province had an emergency. Teachers did not enter long-term care facilities or nursing houses.
“Confédération des syndicats nationaux [Unions] did not take long to respond. It said it recognized the gravity of the crisis and the need to resort to exceptional measures, but is worried about how this decision would be implemented and the potential for abuse.”
“Forcing education personnel to work in the health network, without any form of consultation with those affected, is at the very least heartbreaking,” said CSN [Confédération des syndicats nationaux] president Jacques Létourneau.
However, it had been discovered that some of the elderly who had been transported to hospitals were not the victims of Covid-19.
Dr. Vinh-Kim Nguyen says the Jewish General is seeing more and more seniors admitted — not necessarily for COVID-19, but because of issues related to dehydration and starvation.
“We started to see a shift in the kinds of patients we’ve admitted to the hospital,” Nguyen told Global News.
“More and more patients are coming from old-age homes, nursing homes and CHSLD long-term care facilities, most of them coming in with dehydration, hypernatremia, high blood sodium, renal failure.”
After three days, Premier Legault thought he had not made himself clear.
“I think I am clear today: we need, ideally, 2,000 doctors — whether they are general practitioners or specialists — to come treat the people, wash patients, feed patients, to come and do the work of nurses.”
Danielle McCann was quite convincing:
“There are many GPs and specialists who go on humanitarian missions outside Quebec, to Africa and other countries,” added Health Minister Danielle McCann. “They go help. They are quite devoted. What I want to say to them today is that this time the humanitarian mission is in Quebec — it is in the CHSLDs.”
The Agreement
Doctors responded, but money talks. Two thousand doctors are working in nursing homes and seniors are losing their life to Covid-19. One doctor has died. However, it has been agreed that doctors “will be paid $211 an hour, regardless of their tasks, to a maximum of $2,500 a day. The average wage of an orderly now is $21.50 an hour.” It’s “danger pay.” I doubt very much that a Quebec doctor would have accepted to work in nursing homes without a generous danger pay.
The Military
Premier Legault’s has nevertheless requested further help from the military. He needs 1,000 soldiers who would work in a CHSLD (long term care facility.) I doubt that they will receive “danger pay.”
Similarly, Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario has also requested the assistance of the armed forces. So the military is becoming the “force … of last resort.”
One can count on a soldier’s sense of duty. They came, they assessed and they found a strategy. In other words, soldiers can organize, which is what the first group did. The request for one thousand soldiers is Quebec’s second request.
I have since read that the death toll in Quebec was 1,243, which means that “Quebec with 23 percent of Canada’s population, is home to 52% of cases and 57 percent of the death.” But the death toll has now risen to 1,446 and keeps rising.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2020.
Red Cross volunteer Stephane Corbeil adjusts an opening in a tent at a mobile hospital at the Jacques Lemaire arena in the Montreal suburb of LaSalle, Sunday, April 26, 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues in Canada and around the world. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
Conclusion
There is more to tell: herd immunity, lifting the lockdown… But it suffices to say that one has very little respect for doctors in Quebec who will not come forward until their union negotiates a salary of $2,500 a day. There are good doctors, but, by and large, it’s all about money. They have a powerful syndicate and one fears being a snitch. The fact remains that in Quebec, half the victims of Covid-19 are the elderly. I suspect that the orderlies left because they feared contamination.
You may know that I lost fourteen brothers and sisters to a congenital blood disease. The Insurance Company ceased to contribute money, but my father’s employers footed the bill. It was small. These were the days when I could phone our doctor and say: “Dr Saine, Thérèse has a fever and she is in considerable pain. I don’t know what to do.” He said the magical words. “Don’t worry Micheline, I’m coming over.”
But I will stop here. I was kept away by a case of sadness. The videos show the Premier, Danielle McCann and Quebec’s top doctor: Dr Horacio Arruda. Canada’s top doctor is Dr Theresa Tam.
More than 2,500 coronavirus deaths in Canada as confirmed cases cross 46K.
Love to everyone 💕 I was not able to enter all captions. My post disappeared. I will try to enter captions and credit later.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault and Quebec Health Minister Danielle McCann, right, arrive at a news conference on the COVID-19 pandemic, Wednesday, April 15, 2020 at the legislature in Quebec City. (JACQUES BOISSINOT / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Quebec’s Premier François Legault said yesterday afternoon that the province had 19,319 cases of COVID-19, an increase of 963 from the day before. A total of 939 people have died. Quebec now has 20,000 cases.
(I hope the following links take you to the correct quotation. I had to leave my desk because of fatigue and illness. The last link I found today.)
Many Québécois would like to return to work, but several have yet to be tested. Social distancing helps considerably and it could also be that people exposed to the virus grow a degree immunity. Be that as it may, Quebec has not “flattened the curve” and I do not think it will in the foreseeable future. In fact, the Premier of Quebec, François Legault, requested that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau send medically-trained members of the Canadian Armed Forces to help fight Covid-19. A large proportion of victims live in long-term care facilities.
I have already mentioned that Quebec’s early March-break may have led to contamination. I went into self-isolation on 10 March, but nearly a week later, people were going on a holiday inside or outside Quebec. Other factors may have led to the rapid spread of the disease. Covid-19 is a pandemic and, by definition, contagious, but one should be careful.
Prime Minister Legault leads a party and a government that is devoting significant energy turning a lay society into a lay society. Québécois could not wear a veil that hid their face. But Coalition avenir Québec went further. One cannot display a sign of one’s religion. In other words, a Muslim woman cannot wear a veil, including a discrete veil. Quebec has welcomed North Africans, white and black, because they speak French. In 1974, Quebec became a unilingual province, but its birth rate was very low. Is laïcité (secularism) so important an issue? Finding a general practicioner is difficult in Quebec. The waiting-list is three years.
The Shortage of Tests
Moreover, the shortage of tests has been the bane of this Pandemic. It has led to massive self-isolation in many countries. If persons have not been tested, they cannot return to the workplace safely. Many would test negative, but many would test positive. Persons who would test positive could infect others. The pandemic could therefore grow more severe. However, people fear a recession and, possibly, another Great Depression.
In this regard, it may be useful to remember that the Spanish Flu Pandemic and Word War I were followed by the roaring 20s. The Great Depression occurred in the 1930s and was ended when World War II broke out. For the United States, war broke out on two fronts. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on Japan, after the surprise and devastating attack on Pearl Harbor, on Sunday, 7 December 1941. I would agree with Dr Fauci. Returning to work too soon could result in a second wave of contagion. It could “backfire and slow economic recovery.”
This topic is touchy. In Quebec, students do not need to complete a Bachelor of Science degree before entering medical school. They enter medical school after the CEGEP, their twelfth and thirteenth years of schooling. During the two years they attend a CEGEP, they prepare for the profession or trade they have chosen. They enter medical school three years earlier than they would if they studied outside Quebec. This may not make Quebec doctors lesser doctors, but…
More importantly, if a doctor’s patient needs to be hospitalized, he or she is treated by a hospital doctor. My mother was admitted to a hospital after a fall, and she was treated by a hospital doctor. She was taking Coumadin, a blood thinner, which was indicated on her chart. She was nevertheless given another blood thinner, which caused her to hemorrage. She nearly died and lost the ability to use her legs. The staff had made a mistake. They said they were too busy. Would this have happened had she been under the care of her own doctor? In this instance, the system failed a patient.
As for patients who enter a long-term care facility, or Nursing Home, similar to the one my mother lived in, they are treated by that facility’s doctor(s). My mother could not understand why her doctor never visited. It was a source of distress, which is not trivial. Distress is stress and stress leads to illnesses. However, seriously ill Covid-19 victims are treated in an intensive care unit, an ICU. Yet, they are infected in a long-term care facility.
So, one wonders.
How many patients are assigned to one caregiver?
Can patients be treated in nursing homes? These differ.
Moreover, if a doctor visits, does he or she visit patients regularly and establish a rapport with them?
Are these facilities sufficiently sanitized?
etc.
I may be wrong, but I am inclined to believe that the system might be failing older citizens in Quebec. There have been and there are outbreaks in nursing homes outside Quebec, but are these as overwhelming as they are in Quebec? The medically-trained members of the Armed Forces are assessing the situation.
In short, I am alarmed and doubt very much that the lockdown will be lifted before early June, not to mention that the lockdown itself is leading to health problems, such as addictions and domestic violence. Rich provinces, Alberta for instance, can help persons who are in self-isolation. Not all provinces are as rich as Alberta.
Love to everyone 💕
P. S. I have disabled the “like” button for this post. One likes to be informed, but the information is grim. During the night I kept thinking I had made an error and reported the wrong numbers. The “like” button tells me I have a community.
I reread my post and made a change. If one returns to work untested and works in a contaminated environment, one’s life is a stake and contagion will continue exponentially.
To liberate…
The Washington Post has stories and pictures that tell the unacceptable. President Trump is smiling as he encourages States to end the lockdown using the word “liberate.” “Liberate?” People may return to work because they have yet to receive money from Washington. What happened to the “stimulus” fund?
If a person has not received an income for two months, he or she may return to work at the cost of his or her life, which is scandalous. Before a person reënters the workplace, that person has to test negative and the workplace must be as safe an environment as possible.
There is enough money in the United States to keep people secure for a few more weeks. At the moment, returning to work is unsafe. Moreover, some people will have suffered emotionally and mentally. They require help.
In other words, Quebec has more than half the Canadian cases.
Last weekend, Premier François Legault solicited the help of all physicians in the Province of Quebec, including specialists. Moreover, he has also called on Canada’s government to send qualified members of the Canadian armed forces. As requested by François Legault, the Quebec Premier, Canada is sending 150 medically qualified members the Canadian Armed Forces to relieve a truly overburdened Quebec.
A large number of cases of the novel coronavirus in Quebec are in nursing homes, or long-term care facilities, which is also the case, to a lesser extent, in other provinces. It is believed that Quebecers returning from their March-break may have brought in the coronavirus. Quebec’s March-break occurred earlier than in other provinces. Moreover, many Quebecers travel to Florida to escape Quebec’s harsh winter. Several, retired persons in particular, own a home, in Florida. This could explain, Quebec’s plight.
However, as is well know, the world did not act swiftly when China reported its outbreak of coronavirus. Chinese Dr Li Wenliang, the whistleblower, was reprimanded in early January by Huwan authorities. He died on 7 February 2020. This matter will probably be investigated. Delay in reporting a contagious illness in Huwan did not do anyone any good, in or outside China, but China is not altogether to blame. Quebec locked itself down on 23 March and President Trump of the United States favours an early return to work. The economy is suffering. This could prompt a second wave of the disease.
Delays
Quebec physicians are unionized, but broke directives given by their union. A pandemic is an extraordinary event. The sick require the intervention of doctors.
The first American case was a man who had travelled to Wuhan. He returned to Seattle on 15 January 2020 and fell ill a day after his return. On 17 January, the US CDC (Centers for Disease Control) had alerted the authorities. Yet, the surgeon general of the United States, Dr Jerome Adams, has stated that this week: “more than five times as many Americans died from covid-19 last week than were killed in the World War II raid.”
In the United States, the lockdown has been eased. The President wanted to reopen the entire country, but, in the end, the matter was left to the Governor of each state to decide. Contagion has been far more severe in the state of New York. New York City is densely populated.
Yesterday, there were 31,642 confirmed and 11 presumptive cases in Canada. The latest (late yesterday) are higher:
Quebec has not announced an end of the lockdown. A partial and cautious return to work has been announced elsewhere.
Conclusion
When crises occur, political views seem no longer rigidly significant. As for an early and premature return to work, this may not be advisable. However, it may help the morale of persons whose income drops considerably or is terminated. But consider the cost: it could a person’s life and further contagion. Health care practices may also be revisited. One has the right to be treated and to live. Would that I could understand why Dr Li Wenliang was reprimanded. It doesn’t make any sense.
Prefatory miniature from a moralized Bible of “God as architect of the world”, folio I verso, Paris ca. 1220–1230. Ink, tempera, and gold leaf on vellum 1′ 1½” × 8¼”. Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna 2554. (See Bible moralisée, Wikipedia.)
The Spartan Cube, a Covid-19 testing device, is exclusive to Canada. I suspect that Spartan Bioscience is unable to manufacture an extremely large number of cubes. The Spartan Cube is a DNA analyzer that isn’t brand new. Spartan Bioscience adapted a test used to diagnose Legionnaire‘s disease. As I noted, in an earlier post, the cube is about the size of a large coffee mug, which makes it portable, and results are available in a half hour. It was developed in less than 25 days and could perhaps be improved. But it might suffice to replicate and manufacture the Cube in facilities outside Canada. The Spartan Cube will be available to Canadians at the beginning of May.
Distribution
At the moment, we are told to self-test according to symptoms and phone if symptoms are severe. This is a way of tending to the sick. But our economy cannot survive if the healthy cannot leave home and work.
I would propose taking the cubes to the people in unsophisticated, but disinfected buses. The test would be administered by health professionals and, for safety reasons, I don’t think people should enter the bus. However, people should be comfortable and could sit in a second bus.
For many health professionals, a half hour is too long. But, quite frankly, at the testing phase, most people will test negative. Care is not given at that time.
Residences for the Elderly & Hospitals
Covid-19 attacks the elderly who have entered a residence. These individuals cannot self-isolate easily. They eat in a dining-room. They use common areas and most do not have a private room. I believe wards are a mistake as are unlimited visiting hours and unlimited number of visitors. We have turned hospitals into institutions where people get sick.
We also need masks, gloves, ventilators, beds, people who disinfect the street, etc. These are in short supply. We therefore need businesses that would manufacture the materials needed by health-care professionals and the public.
The novel (new) coronavirus is an unknown. We learn something new every day. So, in no way should we allow persons who test positive not to be treated. Nor should those who have been hospitalized return to work prematurely. In North America, the disease has not peaked.
A long time ago, I posted articles on illuminated manuscripts. Jean de France, duc de Berry, had the Limbourg brothers ornament his Très Riches Heures. Jean de France died of the plague, so did the artists who made his Très Riches Heures de Jean de France, duc de Berry. All died in 1416.
Humanity has suffered too many natural disasters, but we have not been taking good care of Mother Earth or our societies. After this calimity, we will need to revisit many areas. The poor live in cramped quarters and the not-so-poor in areas that are simply too small.
