COVID-19 EXIT STRATEGIES

Does Manitoba have a Plan to end the Health Emergency?

The short answer to my query posed above, is no.

It appears that the Manitoba Government is continuing to knee-jerk react when it comes to dealing with this pesky virus. A little bump in numbers of cases over the last few weeks has the population clamouring for lockdowns, quarantines, and border closures. It appears that despite the miniscule numbers of hospitalizations, ICU beds used, and deaths (seven, one, & thirteen), the goal now seems to be total eradication of the virus with zero cases no matter the severity.

So, despite the massive intrusion of government upon the lives of Manitobans, the incredible hardship being borne by businesses and individuals, and the incredible cost being incurred, the media has decided to act as cheerleaders for the draconian crackdowns. Zero effort is being made to question the Government’s decisions.

To be fair, I would say our leadership is being asked to make unprecedented decisions which may ultimately be the correct course of action. But in the absence of media asking the hard questions and demanding answers, the public is left uninformed and divided with all the opinions and contradictary information flying around.

I would like to point out that a few voices in the media wilderness are piping up and imploring the Government to figure out an exit strategy. Ken Waddell, who runs the Neepawa Banner, put out an excellent editorial today which I encourage you to read. It’s worth noting that Ken owns the paper, so he is not beholden to higher corporate interests and can speak his mind.

So if I were able to hold Premier Pallister’s feet to the fire over his Covid-19 strategy, I would have the following pointed questions for him, his Health Minister, and his Chief Medical Officer:

The goal from the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic was stated as ‘Flatten the Curve’ so the hospitals and ICUs were not overwhelmed. Kudos and back pats all around as MB never even came close to taxing our medical system. So why is there still a Health Emergency Order in place? Even with the uptick in numbers there wasn’t a commensurate rapid rise in hospital patients. Under what conditions will you release the Province from the Emergency Order?
According to StatsCan, Manitobans die from all causes at a rate of 30/day. BTW, what has the suicide rate been like since this all started? We’ve lost a whopping 13 people from Covid-19 related deaths (I’m guessing there was co-morbidity and old age involved). Is this Government operating under the premise that even one death from this virus is too many?
Have the 13 deaths, although regrettable, been worth the estimated 15% of Manitoba’s businesses closed for good and the rest of our damaged economy. Were the 13 deaths worth the extra $10 Billion plus in extra debt the Province has taken on? Were 13 deaths worth the suspension of our rights, freedoms, & liberties which the Government shows no sign of returning? Were a whole 13 deaths worth tossing a million Manitoban’s lives upside down?
Now masks seem to be the order of the day. Please show me the medical evidence you’re basing your decision on. If masks are so successful, why weren’t they mandatory back during the lockdowns and quarantines when the State of Emergency was first declared? How much did public pressure play into the decision to start making masks mandatory in schools and in the Prairie Mountain Health Region?
As for the Hutterite colonies, I hope you realize you’re putting a big target on their backs by identifying them. But since you have and it’s been stated that they’re the source of many of the new cases in Westman, do you have evidence of widespread community spread of the virus due to Hutterite activity? In addition, on the affected colonies, was there widespread testing or only testing of the symptomatic?
What criteria, other than a modest rise in case numbers, did you use to put the PMH region under Orange conditions?
The PMH region takes in the whole SW corner of the Province. Please substantiate why citizens of, for example, Swan River are being forced to follow Condition Orange procedures when the actual clusters are located in the Brandon region?
What is the exit strategy for dealing with this virus? Seems to me that a strategy of protecting the vulnerable such as the elderly and immune-compromised along with reminding Manitobans to keep up good hygiene habits would allow us to go back to normal. Instead, this Government seems determined to keep Manitobans hostage under Health Emergency Orders until there is never another single case ever.

It will be interesting as to just how far Manitobans can be pushed before more and more of us poke up our heads and cry out ‘SHOW ME THE BODIES’ and then reject the Government’s intrusion on our lives.

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Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.

August 23, 2020January 12, 2021

THE GREAT MASK DEBATE

A nurse at St. Joseph’s Hospital wears a unique mask as the hospital celebrates the release of a COVID-19 patient after 45 days in their care in Orange, California, May 5, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake

To Mask or Not to Mask – Why is this even a question?

***January 12, 2021 Update: Here’s an excellent video detailing the timeline of mask usage. Somehow, within a span of a week or two, the World’s health experts went from decades of evidence of general mask usage to be worse than useless to making them mandatory because of ‘evolving evidence’. Masks are straight placebos, nothing more, nothing less. It makes the public feel ‘safe’ and it makes it appear as if the government is doing something. It’s the same pattern for every useless government measure which the virus has circumvented merely because mankind can only live with a viruses, not defeat them (with the exception of vaccines). Watch the video.***

To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. ‘Hamlet’ by William Shakespeare

The latest flashpoint in Canada’s Covid-19 response relates to the mandatory wearing of face masks. Just like the run on toilet paper, hand sanitizer, flour, garden seeds, and other goods whose demand sky-rocketed, now retailers are running out of elastic for ‘do it at home’ self-made masks. The public has been whipped and beaten with 24/7 virus coverage by their governments and the media and they are desperate to find a solution to end this rollercoaster ride.

Let’s start with a question that is probably too obvious: in all the umpteen decades that surgical masks and the like have been around, has the medical community not thoroughly studied their effectiveness under these type of circumstances? Are doctors and our Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) so grossly incompetent that they cannot with a reasonable certainty declare under what conditions we should be utilizing masks, the frequency they should be changed/washed, and their relative effectiveness? Why are masks going to be touted now as the ultimate panacea when they weren’t back during the spring lockdowns?

If you want a good explanation from a doctor on what masks can and cannot do for you I recommend listening to ZDoggMD’s Mask explanation video along with all his other info and concerns with this pandemic.

There should be zero debate as this simple piece of medical tech should long ago have been figured out. But instead, we have people shaming non-mask wearers in person and on social media. We have Anti-Mask groups protesting and promoting Mask Exemption cards online. Large businesses such as banks, Walmart, Superstore, and other chains are declaring on their own that mask use is mandatory on their premises. Oh, if anyone thinks these large businesses are just ‘protecting their employees and patrons’, well give me a break. They are just protecting their bottom line in the event a case gets linked to a store and they have to shut it down.

So here is my problem with the randomness of mandatory mask wearing: if you’re a CMO who has bona fide reasons to order the wearing of face masks, then fine, that is where you have to balance the needs of society with our personnel rights and freedoms under the Charter, (which happens to be the first paragraph). But if you are some random business or ‘Karen’ who tries shaming or ordering me into wearing a mask just because you say so, then you can FUCK right off. Paragraph 7 of the Charter reads: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.

In general, that means, I do not get to tell you not to wear a mask and you do not get to tell me to wear one.

The whole reason we have a Charter of Rights and Freedoms is to protect our rights and freedoms especially during times of duress when they are most likely to come under pressure. There was a reason the War Measures Act was changed after the 1970 FLQ Crisis. Sweeping powers given to government are never a good thing.

The argument of ‘Well, it’s their business, it’s their rules. Just shop elsewhere.’ comes up as a counter-argument. That does not wash with me. I am old enough to remember the AIDS hysteria. It was a Gay disease and you could catch it from something as simple as a toilet seat. Would it have been proper to make a policy of ‘No Gays Allowed’ in your store? But because the population was scared, homosexuals were persecuted anyways. There are a few Christian bakeries who learned the hard way about turning away certain customers.

In Manitoba, we have already seen how ugly Covid-19 stigmatizing could become. Hutterites are still being persecuted and fear worse to come. Some Winnipeg businesses were demanding ID and/or a negative Covid-19 test to determine if patrons were ‘safe’ to come in. There were reports of several Brandon families being turned away. For now, the negative press has forced these businesses to recant their policies.

Speaking of Brandon, starting on August 24, group sizes of 10 and mandatory mask wearing comes into effect for all indoor/outdoor areas of the Prairie Mountain Health Region. This is ostensibly in response to a slight uptick (there was a ‘jump’ of about 100 cases in the last two weeks) in cases mostly in the Brandon area. The PMH region takes in the entire South West corner of the province and it baffles me as to why citizens up in Swan River should be forced to take the same precautions as people in the ‘hot’ zones. As an aside, when you glean through the government’s numbers for the southern health region and the adjacent city of Winnipeg added together are higher than PMH’s but there is no change in their health policies.

My feeling is that Premier Pallister did not want the blowback of making masks mandatory at this time for Winnipeg. He waffled on mandatory mask use for school children than quickly made them mandatory after a barrage of concern from parents. It will be the same for the rest of the province. Mandatory masks are coming because the public demands them, not because of any concrete, scientific, medical reasoning.

But this is typical for the entire lurching, knee jerk reactions exhibited by our authorities since this whole virus thing started. It was understandable in hindsight that governments got scared and shut everything down. But since then, we have not been stacking the bodies in the streets. Hospitals have never been overwhelmed and we have been learning the true nature of this particular virus. But we have gone massively into debt and there is more and more evidence that the ‘cure’ is worse than the disease.

No government has the balls to declare that they massively screwed the pooch with their response so they keep playing politics and with the aid of the media has kept the population running scared.

As I first opined, there should not be a debate whatsoever about whether we should ‘mask up’ or not. I cannot believe the medical establishment is that inept. All the CMOs have to do is lay out the facts and pass on their best recommendations. Most people are reasonable and if they are treated like adults will follow sound advice. Instead, we have the politicians playing politics with a hot potato and as usual none of them have the fortitude to make a hard decision. As a society, we have become afraid of our own shadows and the sheep are easily panicked.

It is understandable why individuals and businesses want to protect their interests and feel like they must take matters into their own hands. It is after all just a mask. But where does this stop? When do the roadblocks go up with armed police demanding your papers for Covid-19 testing and mandatory vaccinations? When will the citizenry be divided up into ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ zones? When will the masses be forced into more draconian lockdowns?

When you look at the relatively small numbers of sicknesses and deaths in Manitoba and Canada as a whole that are attributed to Covid-19 and compare those with a regular flu season, imagine how far the country would go down the rabbit hole if we had a real crisis.

I spent many years in uniform protecting this country and my actions were governed by the National Defense Act. In the military, especially back during the Cold War, most of your rights and freedoms were stripped. I had the right to vote and that was about it. I did not sacrifice my rights and freedoms for them to be arbitrarily taken away by a bunch of jittery sheep.

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Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.

August 13, 2020

CANADIAN SYSTEMIC RACISM

Photo Courtesy of the Polka Dot Press – Mary Ann Kirkby, author of ‘I Am Hutterite’

We Are People Just Like You

Imagine for a nanosecond that there was even a hint of a shop owner posting a sign saying ‘NO BLACKS ALLOWED’ or ‘NO GAYS ALLOWED’ or ‘NO TRANSGENDERS ALLOWED’ or ‘NO NATIVES ALLOWED’. The shitnado following such an action would be apocalyptic.

The news cycle would be filled with talking heads opining about those racist Canadians. Our apoligizer-in-chief would be on the Canadian networks with tears streaming down his cheeks and lamenting that ‘Canadians need to do better, you’re such nasty cretins.’ It would be a given that there would be worldwide protests and the offending shop, irregardless of whether the sign existed or not, would be burnt to the ground along with a sizeable portion of the surrounding community.

It would go without saying that the perpetrator of the obvious Hate Crime, which multiple police units would be investigating, would be vilified, doxxed, and virtually lynched by a gargantuan horde of Social Justice Warriors, real and keyboard. The creator of such an abomination, plus their family, would be hounded until the mob’s ire turned to fresh meat.

But, but, but, the poor devil would protest, the health board and the news outlets reported there were large groups of Black people attending a Black Lives Matter protest or LGBTQ people participating in a Pride Parade or Natives blockading rail lines. Government sources said that because of the gatherings, there was a resultant spike in Covid-19 cases in my area. I’m just trying to protect my family, staff, and patrons.

Guess where the next ‘peaceful’ protest would occur.

But of course, no one would be idiotic enough to throw more fuel on the BLM, Antifa, LGBTQ, Native protester’s fires even if there was a clear and identifiable link between their activities and a spike in Covid-19 cases.

Then why did our powers to be in government and the MSM deem it necessary to announce that some spikes were occurring on Hutterite colonies in the Prairie provinces?

Manitoba Media Bulletin: COVID-19 Bulletins #133, 135, 136 & 137 specifically state Hutterite colonies were linked to new outbreaks. #133 reads: ‘Today’s cases are a male and female in their 60s, a male and female in their 30s and a female in her 20s. All the cases are on a Hutterite colony in the Interlake-Eastern health region. The investigation is ongoing and any additional information will be provided as needed once investigations are complete to inform people of any public health risks.’

Bulletins #135 & 136 read: ‘The high case counts are reflective of an outbreak of cases in several Hutterite colonies.’

Bulletin #137: ‘Seven of today’s eight cases are on Hutterite colonies.’

Finally in Bulletin #138, the government stopped identifying Hutterites but reading between the lines ‘Today’s case is a male in his 40s from the Interlake-Eastern health region.’ was probably a Hutterite.

Do you think if there were outbreaks on Native Reserves that the Manitoba government would start identifying those and the region they were in? Of course not!

Did no one at the government public relations offices or the health departments do a one, two pause before issuing such specific statements? What public health reasons made it necessary to identify Hutterite colonies? Even without the virus, members of the regular public do not visit a colony without good reason. Finally, after the colony elders complained the PR people came to their senses but there was not even a hint of an apology in subsequent Media Bulletins.

Of course the media latched on to the story, doxxing and putting targets on all the Prairie Hutterites. Eventually, a letter had to be sent to the news networks telling them to desist or face court action.

Did not a single network have an inkling of the damage, scorn, or possible violence they would incite by specifically identifying Hutterite colonies for these minor outbreaks? Of course they did but again there was a rush to publish and after an anemic mea culpa, they stopped running the stories.

In part, a Hutterite letter to the networks, had to state the obvious that ‘We are people just like you.’

If you are unaware of Hutterite persecution, that’s literally their entire history and in large part why they established colonies in North America. To this day, that persecution has not ended and is obviously rampant to this day with government and MSM involvement. Mary-Ann Kirkby, author of I am Hutterite, gives an excellent rendition of what it is like being a Hutterite.

Institutional racism is built into Canadian fabric but it isn’t Blacks, Gays, or Natives who are the targets anymore. If you are white and religious, it is your turn to have the target on your back now.

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Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.