If Hollywood is looking for the next big remake, it should consider a COVID-19 twist on the 1993 comedy. Groundhog Day. This time around, Bill Murray can play a public health official who repeatedly tells politicians what to do and watches how they repeatedly fail to do it.
That could be uncomfortably close to reality, as our collective response to the Omicron variant shows. And if our leaders don’t begin to act with the sense of urgency that this situation requires, that remake could quickly go from comedy to horror movie.
They are surely wary of being viewed by a COVID-weary public as an overreaction, especially in the middle of the holiday season. But one of the key lessons of the last 18 months is that it is better to act fast and make a few mistakes than to wait for the virus to show you how bad things can get. That’s especially true with Omicron, who seems spread much faster than any of the previous variants. While it may be less immediately lethal than the Delta variant, that will only buy us time that we are already wasting.
“A virus that spreads faster, through some combination of transmissibility and immune evasion, that Omicron has, is almost always much more damaging than one that spreads more slowly and, equivalently, more severe.” to write Blake Murdoch, a senior research associate at the University of Alberta Health Law Institute, and Christopher McCabe, a professor at its medical school. “That is because the severity is linear and the transmissibility is exponential. Omicron doesn’t need to be harsher than Delta to do more damage. “
I know I know You’ve probably already received at least two doses of a vaccine (you have, right?) And have been taking precautions to avoid exposure to the virus. Now, as COVID threatens to spoil a second Christmas season, the prospect of more restrictions or voluntary precautions probably seems as appetizing as a stale slice of fruitcake.
The shared sense of COVID fatigue that exists right now is palpable and understandable. We are all exhausted at this point, to varying degrees, by the rise and fall of the virus. But know this: As tired and demoralized as you are, the doctors and nurses we all depend on feel it much more deeply. They’re exhausted to a point that even they probably didn’t realize was possible, and they work in a field known for treating burnout as a badge of honor.
What makes this wave even more demoralizing than previous ones is that we know exactly what we have to do and now we have most of the tools to do it. In March 2020, we were surrounded by what Donald Rumsfeld once called “known unknowns”: whether vaccines could be developed fast enough, whether they would work, and whether enough people would take them in a timely manner. We didn’t know if it was spread by droplets or airborne, and we really didn’t know how effective masking and social distancing would be.
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This time, we have the vaccines. This time, we have the rapid tests. This time, we know that the virus is transmitted by aerosols. This time, we know that wearing masks works, so well, in fact, it can drastically reduce the risk of viral spread. And this time, we know how to improve ventilation it’s crucial, especially in high-traffic areas like schools and workplaces.
This time, all we lack is political leadership.
We need our elected officials to deliberately err on the side of excessive caution rather than worrying about how a small group of opponents and anti-science radicals will respond. Throughout the pandemic, provincial governments have been chasing their own tails, responding to surges in the virus (and in some cases, like Alberta’s “best summer ever”, by helping to feed them) rather than Try to get ahead of them with aggressive preventive measures. .
Opinion: In this COVID-19 remake of Groundhog Day, the lessons will continue to be taught until our leaders finally find a way to learn them, writes columnist @maxfawcett. # COVID19 # Omicron
This time, given the level of contagion and the possibility that Omicron could evade some of the protection that vaccines offer, they should throw everything they have into this to avoid the worst case scenario rather than wait for it to take hold.
However, chances are high that this will happen.
That’s especially true in Ontario, where Doug Ford still appears to be much more focused on what the implementation of the new measures will mean for his reelection chances next spring. Yes, he finally decided to speed up the launch of booster doses, but even those wasted days we may not have.
What Toronto star columnist Bruce Arthur wrote, “This is an emergency, and every day we wait is a force multiplier.”
In this COVID-19 remake of Groundhog day, the lessons will continue to be taught until our leaders finally find a way to learn them. For the rest of us who are forced to keep watching it, all we can do is hope the movie ends eventually.
Reference-www.nationalobserver.com