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Wednesday 17 June 2020

Andrew Potter on COVID-19: It's not a crime to disagree with health officials



Notably, one of the most disturbing features of the COVID-19 pandemic response is the absence of counter strategic thinking combined with outright hostility towards anyone questioning how public health officials are handling the situation.

And it is that when speaking of COVID-19, the opposite is presented in a clear way, and in fact, it is presented in two ways. On the one hand, one group simply denies that the virus is so important, that it is more than just serious flu or even some kind of hoax, and we just have to end the blockade and go back to everyday life. Still, it is clear that calling it a hoax is really unheard of as well as the fact that this virus is no more lethal than the flu and that it is not a big problem, it is really dangerous.

On the other hand, there is the second type of contrarianism that accepts the severity of the virus and the threat it represents to our health systems and our lives. But precisely because he takes the threat seriously, he questions the official response to the pandemic and the limitation of the options offered to us to return to normality.


An opinion that should not be silenced

In a way, it could be argued that Canadians have two traits that serve them well in normal times: first, they generally trust their governments. Second, they tend to do what is asked of them. Still, despite the large body of evidence that our health authorities have let us down in several ways, including poor planning, faltering leadership, political lethargy, politicized decision-making, and heinous communications, I could say that the real path they have taken us on has been quite unquestionable.

Likewise, anyone who guesses how the pandemic is being handled is increasingly accused of being a quarterback on the couch, challenging the integrity of public servants, or coming down from the hills to shoot doctors while the battle is still in progress. It is clear that this defensive attitude is not partisan in the political sense, but reveals a strong bias towards protecting the kind of intellectual experience.

Now, it should be noted that Canadians have been doing their duty, isolating themselves, and washing their hands. However, this cannot continue for another six months, let alone the 12 or 18 that the prime minister suggested might be necessary while we wait for a vaccine. If that’s the best plan that health officials can come up with, then we need another plan, or maybe new officials. And without a doubt, it is necessary to stop treating it as a crime to say it.

Source: National Post

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