Since Sept 1 I decided it was best to just stay in. I think everyone expected things to get worse in the fall and numbers have certainly gone up but it is quite disturbing that the government seems to have no idea how.
One of the key points of contact tracing is to learn how. But they won't even share the contact tracing data. The other problem is reporting aggregate case numbers while the bulk of the cases are from long term care facilities.
What Are We Learning From Contact Tracing?
Maybe they know where the virus is transmitting but for some reason it would be difficult to deal with politically so they aren't telling to avoid backlash. That's disturbing because we're supposed to have a transparent government.
Or they have no idea which is a complete failure to progress our understanding of the virus and develop safe guidelines to allow us to live a bit. But all they can do is lock down, the same brute force solution they had in April. It's a failure to progress.
It is possible that this virus is just so contagious that there is no other solution but at the very least they could try to justify the need to lock down with some real data instead of just throwing their hands up and expect that to be ok with people.
Case Reporting Disinformation?
My other frustration is that the daily reporting in Ottawa and Ontario shares daily numbers by age but doesn't separate out institutional cases. Yet, I saw in several places in late summer that 80% of the cases in Canada were institutional - long term care, prisons, etc.
What's needed to protect institutionalised people vs. rest of us are very different problems. For instance, someone in an institution aren't circulating in public - going out to Loblaws, restaurants, etc.
Conflating the data for these two problems is a disservice to both. So much so that it isn't useful to me. Nearly at all.
It makes one wonder if the government only reports combined data to help justify their actions. Certainly the numbers are worrisome. But if 80% of them continue to be in a contained, institutional population then the numbers that affect the rest of us are a lot less alarming and perhaps they fear that people won't be as worried if the case numbers in people circulating in society were 20% lower. That's 1/5 of the size. Would people only be 1/5 as worried?
Also, if the institutional cases are still 80% then WTF? How long are we going to ignore the problem of looking after these people? It makes one wonder if this failure to protect long term care homes is so embarrasing that they are afraid to continue to remind us.
The bottom line is that the information that is being shared is not helpful. It is not misinformation but rendering it so uninformative by conflating it could be considered disinformation.
Covid Fatigue?
The government wants compliance from us but is not communicating effectively. I don't even listen anymore. It doesn't help me at all.
I'm resigned to this condition of limbo. I mostly stay at home and I comply with regulation but otherwise they have lost me. I keep busy, zoom chat regularly with my social circle, try to stay in shape and wait.
This failure to communicate fuels the conspiracy theorists but also breaks down our faith that we can return to normal and makes people complacent. I can't blame people for being frustrated. The administrations call it covid fatigue. It's almost an excuse, like it absolves them of their failures to learn and communicate. I think it's more like bullshit fatigue. They need to do much better.
Anyway, for better or worse, all we can do is wait for the vaccine. Luckily Nov was pretty warm. I even got out for a bike ride to Fitzroy Harbour. But it's the hardest part of the year for me until skiing starts in Jan.
The vaccine rollout may mean that I can travel next year in the fall. It's a long time away but least it's something to look forward to.
