The death of public health: Scientific advisors used for political preferences, Derelicts at the helm and More!
Bonus Covid is really bad for you!
Welcome to the latest issue from the Covid-Is-Not-Over newsletter!
This time around we’re looking at how politics has trumped public health over the course of the pandemic, especially in terms of government policies and how leaders have framed and implemented public health policies. I’m highlighting stories from the early days in the UK to the most recent in Florida and Texas, geographically from Alberta, Ontario and New Brunswick here in Canada, all the way to the UK and the United States to pretty well everywhere.
What we’ve mostly seen these last nearly four years is a pretty consistent story: public health gaslighting, corporate profiteering, a mad rush “back to the office” (that hardly anyone is interested in), abandoning the most vulnerable in society.
We have leaders that don’t even seem to care how obvious or oblivious they are, as long as the story stays focused and doesn’t deviate from “Back to Normal.” And of terrible leaders during the pandemic, the list is long, from Doug Ford in Ontario where I live all the way to Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
As Nate Bear says in Let the Bodies Pile High,
Our world is not run by humanitarians.
It is run by people with an often deeply twisted view of life and death.
These people pick and choose who deserves to live and die based on a cruel, supremacist view of the world. They do not act to ensure the health, safety and security of all their citizens.
Our hierarchical system of extractive capitalism boosts these people. Rewards them as it always has done.
Research has shown a strong correlation between the mindset needed to succeed under capitalism and psychopathic behaviour. We live under capitalism. Is it any wonder the ones who rise to the top are people who exhibit psychopathic and sociopathic traits?
What’s on the menu this week? First up is a bunch of posts that hopefully outline the way that overarching “Covid Is Over” narrative plays out in terms of our political structures. I hope they’re useful both as a way of recognizing the rhyme and rhythm of the murder ballad and as maybe helping others to see that as well.
Every issue I usually like to include some items relating to the direct health impacts of Covid. There’s not really space this issue, but what I have done is add a short list with no excerpts at the end. I hope those are helpful even without the extra text.
And not to worry, the musical interlude is here to stay. What Are We Even Doing returns next time.
'Endemic' SARS-CoV-2 and the death of public health / John Snow Project
Political will is in short supply because powerful economic and corporate interests have been pushing policymakers to let the virus spread largely unchecked through the population since the very beginning of the pandemic. The reasons are simple. First, NPIs hurt general economic activity, even if only in the short term, resulting in losses on balance sheets. Second, large-scale containment efforts of the kind we only saw briefly in the first few months of the pandemic require substantial governmental support for all the people who need to pause their economic activity for the duration of effort. Such an effort also requires large-scale financial investment in, for example, contact tracing and mass testing infrastructure and providing high-quality masks. In an era dominated by laissez-faire economic dogma, this level of state investment and organization would have set too many unacceptable precedents, so in many jurisdictions it was fiercely resisted, regardless of the consequences for humanity and the economy.
I feared scientific advisers were being used by the government – the Covid inquiry shows they were by Devi Sridhar / The Guardian
Perhaps we do need people who stay at the table, who keep trying to influence behind closed doors, because not having anyone competent there is even worse. Pressure from outside has its limits. But the political pressure on them was clear, such as Vallance noting that they objected to appearing at a press conference in the wake of the Dominic Cummings lockdown scandal, fearing that it would appear to be giving Cummings political cover. He wrote that they “tried to get out of it by suggesting that it was not the right day to announce new measures, and that this will undermine our credibility. No luck.”
We need scientific advisers who are employed as civil servants within government to help influence politicians and brief them directly. But we must remember that while they’re “independent” of a political party, they’re not free to speak to the public openly or say what they think. They seem to need to toe the government line, even when they know what’s being done is harmful, and when they disagree with what’s being said or done. This makes it difficult for the public to believe what government advisers are saying – it’s clear they’re constrained because of their positions, and their wish to stay in the inner circle.
When Britain most needed a decent leader, we had a derelict at the helm by Andrew Rawnsley / The Guardian
Before the public inquiry into the handling of the Covid pandemic had taken a single minute of evidence, it was already established that he was a wholly unsuitable character to be leading the country through the gravest peacetime emergency in more than a century. We knew he was too selfish, too weak, too amoral, too capricious, too negligent and too frivolous. What the inquiry is adding to the familiar portrait of Mr Johnson is detailed and compelling testimony from people who were in the room about how utterly unfit – ethically, intellectually, temperamentally and in any other way you might mention – he was to be prime minister. His cabinet secretary, his principal private secretary, his most senior aide, his director of communications and his chief scientific adviser, very different personalities with very different perspectives, all agree on one thing: Mr Johnson was comprehensively incapable of doing the job.
Why these two Toronto pharmacies have decided to stop administering vaccines by Alison Hurst / CP24
Shoppers Drug Mart was awarded the contract through "a competitive procurement process," according to the Ministry of Health.
Jen Belcher with the Ontario Pharmacist Association told CTV News often during the early days of the annual vaccine program, there's a high demand for flu and COVID vaccines, making orders challenging.
"This year, we have heard more of those sorts of concerns and challenges around wanting to ensure that the level on hand of each vaccine is appropriate for all demographics," said Belcher. "We don't want the Ontario public to have a concern that their pharmacies aren't or won't be a destination for vaccine in the future."
The province celebrated its vaccine rollout, where pharmacies could give both the flu and COVID shots in one appointment, but just over a week later, Maseh said it's not working.
"We want people to know we tried our best, but there are forces working against us, unfortunately," Maseh said.
He said if the province wants them to continue vaccinating, they have to work with him and change the distribution model back to what it was last year.
'Political preferences' played role in COVID-19 pandemic response, Russell reveals by Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon / CBC News
"Political preferences" played a role in New Brunswick's COVID-19 pandemic response, the outgoing chief medical officer of health revealed Thursday to a legislative committee.
In a slide show presentation, Dr. Jennifer Russell included a graphic titled "Public Health Evidence-Informed Decision Making."
It has five overlapping circles, with one labelled Public Health expertise. The others are: community health issues, local context; research; Public Health resources; and community and political preferences and actions.
Asked later by reporters whether she felt political pressure, Russell replied: "I felt that every single time we went to COVID cabinet and cabinet that there were fulsome discussions there about whatever the recommendations were as well as the impacts of operationalizing any recommendation."
Pressed on whether there were times her preferred course of action wasn't chosen, Russell revealed she never shared her "preferred choice."
"We would make recommendations with the pros and cons and there would be a very balanced and thorough discussion."
Alberta UCP activists want 'control' of party board — but to do what with it, exactly? by Jason Markusoff / CBC News
The attendees at the Take Back Alberta events Parker has held around the province are galvanized by continued fights against the threat of mask mandates or any threats to their personal liberties, and more lately by the fight for "parental rights" when it comes to transgender kids. Those voting for UCP president at the AGM will also get to vote on several policy resolutions about things like student pronouns and medical freedoms.
On the convention's eve, Parker struck an even more determined tone on social media.
"After this AGM, the grassroots of the UCP will be in charge," he wrote Thursday night. "Those who do not listen to the grassroots or attempt to thwart their involvement in the decision-making process, will be removed from power." …
This base, after all, turfed Kenney for going against its wishes on pandemic rules, and Rob Smith and Redekop are both folk heroes in many circles for being two of the UCP riding presidents who challenged the ex-premier's leadership.
Alberta proposes changes to Public Health Act after COVID-19 court ruling by Canadian Press / CTV News
The Alberta government is proposing changes to the Public Health Act to allow politicians to make final decisions in public health emergencies.
Justice Minister Mickey Amery says elected officials have a responsibility to act in the best interest of Albertans and the amended legislation would make sure they can make decisions.
In August, several health charges were dropped against an Edmonton-area pastor and church as well as a central Alberta man who hosted a rodeo in protest of COVID-19 restrictions.
MPs defeat Pierre Poilievre-backed anti-vaccine mandate bill by John Paul Tasker / CBC News
MPs overwhelmingly voted to kill a bill Wednesday pushed by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre that would have banned Ottawa from again imposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates on federal workers and the travelling public. …
Speaking in the House of Commons during Tuesday's debate, Poilievre said Trudeau "maliciously divided" and attacked Canadians who shunned the COVID-19 vaccine by imposing an "unreasonable" policy that forced some people to get the shot or face consequences like job losses or additional hurdles at the border.
"He divided, insulted and name-called millions of people right across this country who are patriotic, law-abiding, decent people," Poilievre said of the government's now-defunct vaccine mandate policy.
DeSantis Administration Recommends Against Boosters, Right as Florida Tops Nation for COVID Hospitalizations by Arianna Coghill / Mother Jones
Last Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration advised residents in his state under the age of 65 to not get the newly approved COVID-19 booster. It was only days later that new data came in: It showed Florida ranked number one in the country for coronavirus-related hospitalizations.
DeSantis’s campaign for president has played up his handling of the pandemic as bucking liberal orthodoxy for the good of the state. He championed faster reopenings and appointed Dr. Joseph Lapado, a “vaccine skeptic,” as the Florida’s surgeon general.
Joe Biden Has Already Lost by Jessica Wildfire / OK Doomer
The Biden administration failed to end the pandemic. They simply hid it. They caved to corporate pressure. They've spent nearly three years dismantling every single tool we had. The CDC even changed how they calculate excess deaths to cover up the toll it's taking on us. Liberal universities toss air purifiers in the dumpster while telling us infection control "costs too much." Under Team Biden, we get Paxlovid at $1,400 per course and a few expired Covid tests.
How lawmakers in Texas and Florida undermine Covid vaccination efforts by Ann Maxmen / NBC News
Katherine Wells wants to urge her Lubbock, Texas, community to get vaccinated against Covid-19. “That could really save people from severe illness,” said Wells, the city’s public health director.
But she can’t.
A rule added to Texas’ budget that went into effect Sept. 1 forbids health departments and other organizations funded by the state government to advertise, recommend, or even list covid vaccines alone. “Clinics may inform patients that COVID-19 vaccinations are available,” the rule allows, “if it is not being singled out from other vaccines.”
Texas isn’t the only state curtailing the public conversation about Covid vaccines.
Tennessee’s health department homepage, for example, features the flu, vaping, and cancer screening but leaves out Covid and Covid vaccines. Florida is an extreme case, where the health department has issued guidance against Covid vaccines that runs counter to scientific studies and advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As most have probably noticed, there is no paid subscription option for this newsletter. However, Substack does have an option where subscribers can pledge to subscribe “just in case” and a few kind subscribers have made that pledge. I very much appreciated the vote of confidence in what I’m doing here.
What I’ve decided to do on a trial basis is to set up a “tip jar” on the Ko-fi platform. This will allow people to leave me a small gratuity. The tips start at $3.
I’m not anticipating a huge surge of income from using Ko-fi but whatever revenue I do end up with, I plan to spend on popular science books for this ongoing project and to support artists on Bandcamp.
Covid Is Bad for your Health
Covid pandemic ‘had lasting impact’ on brain health of people aged 50 or over
COVID-19 may be worse for those with uncontrolled high blood pressure or diabetes
There’s nothing like a cheesy metal power ballad. The live version of Bruce Dickinson’s Tears of a Dragon is one of my favourites. Enjoy!
It's so weird to read this from Alberta. Because it sounds like we want to be in the same group as Florida and Texas. Personally, I'm less than enthusiastic about this.