Resetting Public Health Advice

Colin Kinner and Dr. Blair Williams wrote a great piece last May about Australian public health following the release of an inquiry. The information applies everywhere, even places that aren’t able to get an inquiry into Covid mis-management. Here are some highlights:

“Since late 2021, Australia’s pandemic response has been wildly unethical and based on wishful thinking that is disconnected from the emerging science. . . . Since the “let-it-rip” approach began in December 2021, the federal government, in lock-step with state and territory governments, has systematically dismantled almost all public health measures designed to limit transmission of the virus — including mask mandates, isolation requirements, contact tracing, access to PCR testing and mandatory reporting of test results. In parallel, public health communication has downplayed the seriousness of the virus and its long-term risks, which has led most people to accept the idea of widespread infection.”

Sound familiar?? That’s exactly what’s happened in Ontario as well.

“The push for hybrid immunity has been shown to cause substantial net harm, places people at unacceptable risk, and is based on dubious public health messaging designed to convince people to act against their interests. It is regarded as such a dangerous public health strategy that thousands of scientists from around the world have signed a memorandum which calls on governments to abandon misguided attempts to achieve population immunity via mass infection, describing it as “a dangerous fallacy unsupported by scientific evidence”.. . . The report noted that between 5% and 10% of COVID infections lead to Long COVID, a debilitating condition which can cause extreme fatigue, breathing problems, chronic pain, heart palpitations, memory loss and cognitive impairment. This condition can affect anyone, including children, and can occur even after a “mild” acute infection. . . . The current national strategy fails to recognise that high-risk people are part of society, and that all parts of society are rife with infection due to a lack of mitigations.”

Read the entire article for further details and links to evidence. We need to work and learn with clean air in all our buildings. That means good quality, well-fitting N95s until we can be sure that our air is well ventilated and well filtered (or uses upper room UVGI) to protect all workers, students, patients, and clients.