A lot of us—almost everyone actually—is sick of Covid. That’s OK but we don’t want to be sick from Covid. Is that not true? Actually it seems to me that more and more of us don’t really care anymore. I am wondering if I belong to this camp?
Yesterday I went in a bus with a bunch of senior citizens from Steinbach to Winnipeg and back and the bus was jammed full. Yet hardly anyone, including me, wore a mask. Two old men wore a mask that did not cover their mouthes or noses. What was the point of that? Interestingly on the way back they wore mask as intended. What was up with that? I have no idea. There were a couple of women who wore masks properly in both directions. Were they smart? Were the rest of us stupid? Remember these were all old people who are among the most vulnerable people to this virus?
Our provincial government has decided to stop giving Manitobans any information about Covid in any manner that makes it easy to get the information. Are they trying to hide something from us? Do they want to ensure we do nothing to interfere with our economic recovery because they think that is now more important than covid?
A couple of days ago Paul Samyn, the editor of the Winnipeg Free Press, who is almost the only one reporting to use in Manitoba about the state of Covid reported on what is happening to Manitoba. Even that was not in the paper but in a briefing that he regularly offers by way of subscribed email.
Samyn pointed out some interesting facts that most Manitobans, I am sure are not aware of. This is one of the things he said in that email:
“Even though health orders have long faded, even though we are months into learning to live with COVID, 2022 is shaping up to be the deadliest year yet for SARS-CoV-2.”
We should let that one sink it. Are things worse than ever when it comes to Covid? Note this statistic refers to deaths. Not cases! The conventional wisdom is that cases may be on the rise but this latest version of Covid is not so bad. Most people in Manitoba think we have arrived at Covid lite.
Samyn went even farther in his report:
“In the first seven months of 2022, Manitoba has already recorded 663 deaths from the virus — nearly a third of the total body count since the start of the pandemic. At the pace we are on (another seven deaths were announced today), we will easily surpass the previous death toll high water mark of 704 registered when 2021 was said and done… But the death toll is not the only warning bell tolling this summer. Hospitalizations are also up this week, part of a trend that already made 2022 the busiest year for COVID cases in hospitals. The 5,140 hospital admissions recorded in the first seven months of the year already represent more than half of all caseloads in the province since the pandemic began in March of 2020.”
I don’t know about you, but these stats make me uneasy.
Samyn came to this uncomfortable conclusion:
“I would never have guessed we would have normalized so many hospitalizations and so much death. But that is exactly what we have done.”
You bet that is what we have done. None of the seniors on our bus looked at all concerned. I know I was uneasy, but did absolutely nothing about it. I must be stupid. or have we arrived at thinking lite?