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The Brutal Logic of Coronavirus
The only way to defeat this pandemic is to approach it with the seriousness it deserves. It is time for a radical acceptance of reality.
Why Are There So Many Cases in Italy?
Italy has by far the largest number of novel coronavirus cases in Europe. But why? There are many reasons, and recognizing them could be vital for other countries around the world.
"More than 10,100 people. That is how many people in Italy have been infected by the novel coronavirus, according to numbers released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday. It is the highest number outside of China. And it is by far the most of any country in Europe.
By way of comparison, France has the second-highest number of cases in Europe, with around 1,700 and Germany is in fourth with 1,300, behind Spain. And there is another number that pops off the page: 631. That is the number of people in Italy who have died thus far. That isn't just the highest number in Europe by far in absolute terms, it calculates to a death rate of 6 percent, which is unusually high."
What might our lives look like when Canada is in the full grip of COVID-19?
As if fear isn’t already in the air, if not in the grocery store lineups, then grim plans for a significant influenza pandemic in Canada are a jolt of panic infused with sobering reality of worst-case scenarios as COVID-19 continues its alarming spread.
Stockpiling body bags, choosing a central place where people bring corpses of family members and identifying hockey and curling rinks cold enough to be temporary morgue sites are among the government’s planning guidelines.
The surge capacity of crematoriums, running out of coffins and church space for holding funerals and recruiting temporary grave diggers are all outlined in the “Management of Mass Fatalities: Canadian Pandemic Influenza Preparedness,” a planning guideline prepared by the Public Health Agency of Canada in 2009.
“There are currently no plans to recommend mass burials or mass cremations. This would only be considered in the most extreme circumstances,” the guidelines reassuringly offer.
It warns of six months’ worth of deaths compressed into six weeks.
“Most crematoriums can handle about one body every 4 hours and could probably be run over 24 hours to cope with increased demand. Cremations have fewer resource requirements than burials and, where acceptable, this may be an expedient and efficient way of managing large numbers of deceased during a pandemic.
“Refrigerated trucks can generally hold 25-30 bodies without additional shelving.”
They are hard words to read.
It is the job of disaster planners to think about the unthinkable.
The scenarios they envision are the stuff of nightmares and end-times movies but, it stands to reason, having such plans are better than the alternative of not having them, while also hoping they are never needed.
What is happening around the world and beginning across Canada makes this contagion of novel coronavirus the most worrisome health scare in generations.
Hope of containment has failed.
What was once an alarming but distant tragedy in China is now, in a slow-to-dawn suddenness most saw coming but didn’t accept, Canadian reality. Or at least the start of what is expected to become reality.
Many Canadians seem stuck in the stage of thinking the most important thing is to hoard toilet paper or else laugh at people hoarding toilet paper.
The reality, however, is sinking in.
As the virus jumps from country to country, each nation reacts in its own way. A mix of surprise and dark humour greeted the curtailment of national passions and deemed a doomsday sign: Iran cancelling public Friday prayers, an end to kissing in Italy, closing of pubs in Belgium, shuttering soccer in Spain, cancelling basketball in March in the United States, the end of Tim Hortons’ Roll-Up-The-Rim contest in Canada.
Each caused an awakening.
Perhaps the NHL suspending the hockey season was the shock that woke you up, or closing of schools; maybe it was U.S. President Donald Trump’s speech cancelling most travel from continental Europe or Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife, Sophie, testing positive for COVID-19.
The only way to defeat this pandemic is to approach it with the seriousness it deserves. It is time for a radical acceptance of reality.
Why Are There So Many Cases in Italy?
Italy has by far the largest number of novel coronavirus cases in Europe. But why? There are many reasons, and recognizing them could be vital for other countries around the world.
"More than 10,100 people. That is how many people in Italy have been infected by the novel coronavirus, according to numbers released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday. It is the highest number outside of China. And it is by far the most of any country in Europe.
By way of comparison, France has the second-highest number of cases in Europe, with around 1,700 and Germany is in fourth with 1,300, behind Spain. And there is another number that pops off the page: 631. That is the number of people in Italy who have died thus far. That isn't just the highest number in Europe by far in absolute terms, it calculates to a death rate of 6 percent, which is unusually high."
What might our lives look like when Canada is in the full grip of COVID-19?
As if fear isn’t already in the air, if not in the grocery store lineups, then grim plans for a significant influenza pandemic in Canada are a jolt of panic infused with sobering reality of worst-case scenarios as COVID-19 continues its alarming spread.
Stockpiling body bags, choosing a central place where people bring corpses of family members and identifying hockey and curling rinks cold enough to be temporary morgue sites are among the government’s planning guidelines.
The surge capacity of crematoriums, running out of coffins and church space for holding funerals and recruiting temporary grave diggers are all outlined in the “Management of Mass Fatalities: Canadian Pandemic Influenza Preparedness,” a planning guideline prepared by the Public Health Agency of Canada in 2009.
“There are currently no plans to recommend mass burials or mass cremations. This would only be considered in the most extreme circumstances,” the guidelines reassuringly offer.
It warns of six months’ worth of deaths compressed into six weeks.
“Most crematoriums can handle about one body every 4 hours and could probably be run over 24 hours to cope with increased demand. Cremations have fewer resource requirements than burials and, where acceptable, this may be an expedient and efficient way of managing large numbers of deceased during a pandemic.
“Refrigerated trucks can generally hold 25-30 bodies without additional shelving.”
They are hard words to read.
It is the job of disaster planners to think about the unthinkable.
The scenarios they envision are the stuff of nightmares and end-times movies but, it stands to reason, having such plans are better than the alternative of not having them, while also hoping they are never needed.
What is happening around the world and beginning across Canada makes this contagion of novel coronavirus the most worrisome health scare in generations.
Hope of containment has failed.
What was once an alarming but distant tragedy in China is now, in a slow-to-dawn suddenness most saw coming but didn’t accept, Canadian reality. Or at least the start of what is expected to become reality.
Many Canadians seem stuck in the stage of thinking the most important thing is to hoard toilet paper or else laugh at people hoarding toilet paper.
The reality, however, is sinking in.
As the virus jumps from country to country, each nation reacts in its own way. A mix of surprise and dark humour greeted the curtailment of national passions and deemed a doomsday sign: Iran cancelling public Friday prayers, an end to kissing in Italy, closing of pubs in Belgium, shuttering soccer in Spain, cancelling basketball in March in the United States, the end of Tim Hortons’ Roll-Up-The-Rim contest in Canada.
Each caused an awakening.
Perhaps the NHL suspending the hockey season was the shock that woke you up, or closing of schools; maybe it was U.S. President Donald Trump’s speech cancelling most travel from continental Europe or Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife, Sophie, testing positive for COVID-19.
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