Loading ...The Shifting Goalposts of Canada’s Pandemic Policies
A look at the claims made and consistency—or lack thereof—in imposing various pandemic measures
“From flip-flopping on mask mandates, to initially leaving borders unprotected against travellers from the pandemic’s epicentre, to applying lockdowns inconsistently, to piling on more conflicting measures amid rising Omicron cases, Canadians have endured a never-ending see-saw of COVID-19 policies since the virus outbreak began in China—in many cases presented in the name of undisputed science.
With the latest set of restrictions announced in different provinces, it seems an increasing number of people are questioning the policies, including parents who have been forced to make a last-minute scramble to figure out how to deal with their children after school openings were postponed. More than 500 doctors signed a letter in late December asking Ontario Premier Doug Ford to keep schools open.
“We are trading the certainty of profound harm to our children for essentially no benefit from a public health or disease transmission perspective,” wrote infectious diseases physician and medical professor Dr. Jennifer Grant in an op-ed in the Ottawa Citizen. “It is an indictment of the politicians who feel comfortable using our children as political pawns that this is happening, despite the overwhelming and irrefutable evidence that it has served no purpose in the past and is unlikely to do so now.”