The proof is right there on a screen capture posted to Warren Kinsella's blog. "Province says 4,400 deaths have been prevented so far." That's what you call polishing a turd.
If you've been diagnosed with Covid-19 and haven't died then that must mean the Ford government prevented your death. So, a few hundred have died. How does that stack up against the 4,400 deaths we've prevented?
The mortality rate for Covid-19 varies from country to country. Italy is running about 12 per cent. Britain is at 9%. Germany at 1%. Let's say Ontario's Covid mortality rate is somewhere around 5 per cent of diagnosed cases. "4,400 deaths" would translate into 88,000 Ontarians with the virus. The figure in the map above shows 3,288 which is a far cry from 88,000.
Ford is manipulating the stats to claim victory where none exists. Self-isolation is responsible, not Doug Ford. The public did that. Society deserves the credit, not the provincial government. To claim credit for preventing 4,400 deaths is despicable.
Meanwhile, Fox News unwittingly set off a landmine under Donald Trump's ass during an interview with infectious disease specialist, Dr. Rishi Desai -
Bummer. Why did you point that out? I was starting to like the guy.
ReplyDelete"[T]he biggest success has been the commanding performance of Ontario Premier Doug Ford. …
"As the crisis has deepened, Ford is exemplifying the tenets of good crisis communication. …
"The premier has consistently struck the right tone in these briefings and in his other public comments, tempering the flow of essential information with genuine compassion."
- Jaime Watt
Well, so much for that. Thanks, Mound.
One has to wonder how , where and when the virus first took hold.
ReplyDeleteNot that the origin matters at this point ; just curious.
https://theintercept.com/2020/04/02/coronavirus-europe-travel/
What matters now is how to stop it.
Next, cure it.
Then try and stop future failures of public health.
Within the USA and UK , I see a battle for medical dollars as opposed to health dollars and hence their failures to address the current situation.
Keep healthy folks; your government has other priorities.
TB
John, I'm sure Ford is showing compassion. It's just that he's manipulating the truth so that he will be seen in an undeserved light. The claim that he's "prevented" 4,400 deaths is intended to mislead the public for Ford's personal benefit and it's Trump-grade bullshit.
ReplyDeleteI don't follow Ontario politics very closely but how fast was Ford in getting off the mark in the critical January/February period?
To use a Napoleonic reference, in times of grave emergency we need leaders who don't hesitate to ride to the sound of the guns.
In North America,TB, the virus first entered on the Pacific coast - Washington and BC. Residents of the Lower Mainland are familiar with the steady afternoon arrivals of green and white jetliners overhead - Cathay Pacific livery.
ReplyDeleteThe Euros dropped the ball. That much is plain but the virus definitely originated in China.
As the video shows, Trump sat on his hands as the virus took hold in the US. He called it a hoax. He said the numbers were minimal. He claimed the virus would miraculously disappear. He dismissed those calling for urgent action as alarmist. Then he switched to balancing protection of the economy against likely death tolls. All this time - January, February and at least into mid-March - Trump resisted - and thereby obstructed - urgent action to thwart Covid-19. Trump and his Congressional stooges allowed the virus to take hold and spread. And, with each day squandered, they consigned thousands of Americans to what's said to be a pretty nasty death, separated from their families.
In my view this is criminal negligence causing death. Not murder but definitely manslaughter. Among these deaths there will be a significant portion that are the direct, consequential and foreseeable result of Trump's stubborn refusal to act. True to his pathology, Trump treated the contagion as a threat to his re-election and simply chose to wish it away. He even told his people he had a strong feeling in his gut this would all blow away.
There was a time that would get you strapped to a pole with a blindfold and a last cigarette.
In North America,TB, the virus first entered on the Pacific coast - Washington and BC. Residents of the Lower Mainland are familiar with the steady afternoon arrivals of green and white jetliners overhead - Cathay Pacific livery.
ReplyDeleteIf so far, BC has handled the issue quite well.
At the end of the day I think that the rest of Canada will look at the left coast with little more respect!
TB
TB, I've been quite impressed by the good-natured,cheerful people in this town. They do exude a certain resolved yet humorous nature.
ReplyDeletePerhaps definitive statements on the origins of COVID-19 should be left to historical epidemiologists ...
ReplyDelete"The coronavirus that causes Covid-19 might have been quietly spreading among humans for years or even decades before the sudden outbreak that sparked a global health crisis, according to an investigation by some of the world’s top virus hunters."
"“The occurrence of Covid-19 in Wuhan does not mean it originated in Wuhan,” he said last week.
"“It is possible that a progenitor of SARS-CoV-2 jumped into humans, acquiring the genomic features described above through adaptation during undetected human-to-human transmission,” they said in the paper."
SCMP
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3077442/coronavirus-pathogen-could-have-been-spreading-humans-decades
Well Mound what else would you expect that Con flack and fartcatcher Jamie Watt to say, he probably got a cheque for that one.
ReplyDeleteToby, SARS was a coronavirus. MERS is a coronavirus. Yes, some strains of coronavirus have been around for decades. They're all similar and they all have differences.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing new in any of that despite what the South China Morning Post article implies.
Covid-19 is one of a chain of coronaviruses. If it was spreading "long before the first detection in Wuhan" the epidemic would have broken out somewhere else and Wuhan would never have become a household name.