Preface…Happy New Year! A new year is a blank canvas, paint the possibilities you want to see!
The first Covid19 vaccine, from Pfizer-BioNTec, arrived on December 13th, 2020 on Canadian soil. Leading up to its anti-climatic arrival there was much hype. Some of the hype was around…
Where is Canada on the distribution list?
Who will get the vaccine first?
How will the vaccine be deployed for inoculation?
All valid and important queries indeed.
Since then, Canadian Premiers attempts to control the virus spread and huge increases in cases is failing. In Ontario alone the cases have doubled, to almost 4,000 daily since December 21st, the day Premier Ford announced another provincial ‘lockdown’. In Toronto – Canada’s largest city – Mayor John Tory has placed new health and safety restrictions on businesses to curb the spread of covid19 in workplaces, that have seen outbreaks in recent weeks. There is speculation Ontario’s provincial government is considering declaring another state of emergency.
For months doctors and hospital officials, right across the country, have warned the second wave would be worse than the first one was if people disregarded health and safety protocol…and yet here we are again.
Observation: With the arrival of the Moderna vaccine and AstraZeneca vaccine in the queue for Health Canada approval, Canada has had a vaccine for a month now. At the time of writing this article, we’ve inoculated 300,000 Canadians. While it’s a start, it’s less than 1% of our population.
Science tells us to stop the spread of the virus we need herd immunity. It’s achieved when a minimum of 75% of the population is immunized either artificially (vaccination) or naturally through the spread of the virus. Here’s the thing. While herd immunity plays a crucial part in the battle to win the war against covid19, as pandemics go, this one is far from being over.
Not meaning to be flippant about the seriousness of the situation we are in, if this were a baseball game the scoreboard would read: Covid19 – 2 at bat; 2-home runs batted in (number of virus waves so far); The People – batting a 1,000. Clearly, we are not doing enough.
Unlearning Tip: There is only one way to stop covid19 and get to the next normal. Every single breathing human, walking the earth, must accept they are potential virus carriers. That’s the deal.
Covid19 has no legs or wings. It can’t fly. The virus can only be spread through people to people contact. What makes this virus devious is a person can be asymptomatic, meaning they’ve contracted the virus and are not demonstrating any symptoms or get sick. That person is the virus ‘host and carrier’. They then unknowingly and exponentially infect more people and so on and so on… It’s this key fact people and even elected officials are ignoring completely.
Why else would anyone knowingly travel for holidays outside of Canada over Christmas if they knew they are a potential asymptomatic virus carrier and can infect others?? And…while millions of people from the travel, tourism and hospitality sector and event community have lost their jobs and careers.
This is the wrong mindset that needs unlearning.
Since people are the carriers, we must do more for cases to go down now. Even though we are all tired of lockdowns we need more measures. The current lockdown is at best a set of loosey-goosey guidelines compared to the Spring lockdown. It must be more extreme, and the message must be clear, strongly enforced and noted that we, The People, are the virus carriers.
Insights: The belief that the pandemic will soon be behind us is a false sense of security. This thinking could not be more wrong in this matter. We must shift our thinking and accept, without doubt, that we are the virus carriers, then change our ways.
Last Word: If we don’t shift how we think about the virus, then get comfortable living your next normal in lockdown.
Susan Radojevic…Founder of KADIMA village | Make Canada A Leader In Innovation | Prisoner of Hope. Follow Susan on Twitter @SusanRadojevic
About KADIMA village…
‘Kadima’ is the Hebrew word meaning ‘forward’. KADIMA village is a catalyst to make Canada a leader in innovation. Our goal is to help private, public, and social enterprises, manage uncertainty, obtain clarity, and make optimal decisions to stay resilient and grow sustainably. Follow us @KADIMAvillage.
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