And the Rest of It

It's not like people weren't told:

The government will eventually make the “unavoidable” decision to seek new sources of revenues through tax hikes, as policymakers look to offset a raft of recent Liberal spending measures, the federal budget watchdog says.

In testimony before the Senate Finance committee on Tuesday, Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux said Ottawa will have to make a “sharp turn” in its fiscal approach in coming months. The Liberal government has introduced around $146 billion in financial aid programs since early March, aimed at shielding businesses and Canadians against the economic fallout from COVID-19.

But those programs will soon need to taper off as the Canadian economy gradually returns to health, Giroux said.

“It’s not sustainable for more than a few years,” he said.

Be honest. It's not sustainable for the end of the year.




I've said that before:

I got tested on the advice of Telehealth Ontario, and because I wanted peace of mind. I live alone in an apartment building, which means I can’t leave the building without touching multiple public surfaces. I didn’t want to hunker down in a small bachelor apartment for 14 days on a “maybe” and I figured that my test would be a useful data point for public health officials tracking the spread of the virus.

The clinic itself was quick and easy. I was in and out in less than an hour, including paying for parking. The swab was extremely uncomfortable — both nostrils! — but it was fairly quick. The doctor wearing full PPE said I’d get a call with test results in 48 hours, maybe sooner if I checked the MyChart website where Sunnybrook uploads test results.

When I got home, I posted a couple of messages to social media describing how quick and easy the test had been. I encouraged other people to consider getting tested, if they had any symptoms.

On Thursday, I very carefully entered my information to register with MyChart, and after the third attempt with an error message, I was told that I’d been locked out. I called the tech support number, and the voicemail message said I’d get a call back within two business days. That’s not especially helpful, since I was expecting a call back with my test results within 48 hours anyway, but so it goes.

Friday 1 p.m. came and went with no phone call. Around 6 p.m. I got tired of waiting, and called Toronto Public Health. After wrestling with their phone tree for a bit, I managed to get a public health nurse on the line. She offered to set up a profile for me, and check if my results had been uploaded to their system.

This was a frustrating conversation. I’d been expecting a result within two days, because that’s what the doctor told me. But apparently Toronto Public Health says test results can take “up to four days.” I was also told that even with a negative test, I was obligated to self-isolate for 14 days, because false negatives are a possibility. So much for peace of mind.

The nurse said she was seeing some sort of error message when she checked my test results, which probably meant they hadn’t been uploaded yet. As we were talking, the Toronto Public Health phone line was garbled, and our conversation was cut off. The nurse called me back about half an hour later and told me she’d been talking for several minutes before she realized we were disconnected. Then a short while later we were disconnected again. She called back about an hour later. The end result of the conversation was that I just needed to sit tight and call back in the morning.

She gave me a phone number for the COVID-19 clinic at Sunnybrook, and suggested I pursue the issue with them directly. I called multiple times, but it always went straight to voicemail. I left three messages at that line over three days. ...

This whole experience has demolished my confidence in the province’s ability to fight this pandemic. I am only one case, but my impression is that after two and a half months of lockdown, the testing system is a disorganized mess. I was already carrying a lot of stress from social isolation and confinement, because I live alone in a small apartment. I also have the same baseline anxiety as everyone else from the pandemic and economic catastrophe we’re living through. The testing ordeal was not good for my mental health, and I’ll spare you the details.

The Chinese-run WHO drops  hydroxychloroquine from its coronavirus study (I think one can imagine why):

The World Health Organization announced Monday a "temporary pause" on the inclusion of an anti-malarial drug, which President Donald Trump said he used to help stave off coronavirus, in a global study on potential treatments for the disease. 

Just like not mentioning that the coronavirus came from China, right?:

Canadians should avoid using the word “aboriginal”, says a federal language guide. The term may give offence and has no legal meaning, wrote researchers: “Using appropriate language is fundamental.”

Like calling the government a pack of money-grubbing liars?

Language is important.