Drop the conspiracy theories

Re: We are being divided.

Mr. Brown suggests Canada should try for ‘herd immunity’, the way Sweden did. Well, let’s look at the numbers (you know, FACTS)

As of yesterday Canada had 596 cases per 100,000 people, Sweden had 1,197 per 100,000.

Canada had 26.5 deaths per 100,000 people, while Sweden had 58.6 per 100,000. 

Their numbers are more than double ours, with 1/3 the population of Canada. I don’t really think that getting the high score in sickness and death is worth striving for as a nation – having lower numbers of dead and sick people is actually better. Honest.

Sweden’s chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell said it is “futile and immoral” to seek herd immunity as a protection from a pandemic, and Sweden is currently seeing a spike in cases and starting to lock down portions of the country, such as 170,000 people in the city of Uppsala.

Mr. Brown is correct in saying that we are being divided – by people who push conspiracy theories, such as ones that say groups of Canadians and the government (of course) are trying to prolong the pandemic because of some sort of unknown ‘benefit’ they see in living with a global disaster. The people who are actually doing the most to prolong the pandemic and help it spread faster are the ones who refuse to wear a mask.

A recent paper published by a group of doctors from Hong Kong, Paris, London and Finland shows that if 80% mask wearing can be achieved, it is more effective than a lockdown. (UC San Francisco ucsf dot edu) We would be able to get much closer to a semblance of normal life by doing this one simple thing.

So if you want to blame your troubles on a particular group, you may want to start with the ones who refuse to stop being potential spreaders by the simple act of wearing a mask around other people.

The virus is the enemy, not us. We could really do a lot better if we dropped the conspiracy theories and conducted ourselves according to reality and truth.

Don Fletcher, Kelowna