In a normal country, she would have been removed from her position ages ago:
The unwritten conclusion of that scathing auditor general's report into how the Public Health Agency botched early pandemic detection is obvious: Replace Dr. Theresa Tam.
That might sound harsh for the high-profile face who has been calmly cajoling Canadians to stay home, wash their hands and, after her change of mind last April, wear a face mask in public.
But there’s no sugar-coating blame for the abysmally slow early detection and erroneous risk assessment of COVID-19 in Canada, as extensively documented in a report last week by the auditor general. ...
Incredibly, Tam is largely unapologetic for insisting there was a low risk of COVID-19 spreading throughout Canada until five days after the global pandemic was declared last March 11.
She heel-digs in her position that there was nothing wrong with focusing on Canada’s 24-hour virus picture last spring, while ignoring the possible implications of that rapid rate of infection in other countries spreading here.
That, snapped highly-respected report researcher Wesley Wark in the Globe and Mail, is "defending the indefensible."
After all, this was no mere hiccup in a senior official’s performance of duties.
Tam is Canada’s designated canary in the COVID coal mine -- and she barely peeped at governments to act until the virus had already danced through the doorstep into long-term care centres and beyond.
I would say that she added to it:
Auditor-General Karen Hogan said in her report Thursday that Public Health’s tool for determining the risk COVID-19 posed to Canada was not appropriate, because it did not involve forecasts of pandemic spread, or forward-looking projections of danger. It only looked at whether the virus was present in Canada, or how many domestic cases there were, when the risk assessments were made.
That meant as the spread of the virus began to accelerate globally, with case numbers exploding in other countries, hospitals filling up and deaths mounting, Ottawa’s risk assessments focused on Canada at that moment in time. They didn’t take into account the worsening international picture and uncontrolled spread of the virus. As a result, throughout January, February and into March, the government repeatedly told Canadians that the virus posed only a low risk to the public.
“Bottom line is that [Public Health’s] risk assessments were an utter failure and cannot and should not be defended,” said Mr. Wark, who served on the advisory committee to the Office of the Auditor-General in its preparation of the report.
Canada has the worst record for COVID-19 deaths in long-term care homes compared with other wealthy countries, according to a new report released on Tuesday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).
The study found that the proportion of deaths in nursing homes represented 69 per cent of Canada's overall COVID-19 deaths, which is significantly higher than the international average of 41 per cent.
In Canada, between March 2020 and February 2021, more than 80,000 residents and staff members of long-term care homes were infected with the coronavirus. Outbreaks occurred in 2,500 care homes, resulting in the deaths of 14,000 residents, according to the report.
"COVID-19 has exacted a heavy price on Canada's long-term care and retirement homes, resulting in a disproportionate number of outbreaks and deaths," the report's introduction says.
The study, which primarily focused on the first six months of the pandemic, found that across the country, nursing home residents received less medical care. They had fewer visits from doctors, and there were also fewer hospital transfers when compared with other years.
A blast from the not-too-distant past:
First-time member of Parliament and candidate for the Conservative leadership Derek Sloan is under fire after posting a video suggesting Canada’s top doctor, Dr. Theresa Tam, works for China and is putting Canadians’ lives at risk amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“Does she work for Canada or for China?” Sloan, the MP for Hastings–Lennox and Addington, asks in a video posted to his social media accounts on Tuesday.
“Dr. Tam must go! Canada must remain sovereign over decisions,” the video caption read.
#FreeDerekSloan
Also:
A preliminary report before the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) found that as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the percentage of students meeting Grade 1 reading level expectations fell by approximately 10% when compared to the 2018-2019 school year.
“There is nearly a ten percentage point difference in the proportions of students meeting grade level reading expectations in virtual schools in January 2021 (45%) when compared to pre-pandemic percentages (54%) in January of 2019,” the preliminary findings read.
“Overall, in considering the percentage point shifts and differences, the pandemic seems to have disrupted literacy learning for many early elementary students to large degrees. Given the importance that literacy capacity has on future academic success throughout elementary and secondary schooling, these data are concerning.”
Now, it is not solely the teachers' job to read to children and reinforce skills learned at school and elsewhere.
That said, it doesn't help when well-compensated "educators" don't do that which they are compensated for.
**
A cherry-picked stat is creating a media frenzy.
— Kelly Brown (@rubiconcapital_) March 30, 2021
- A 50% ⬆️ in % of ICU admits in "younger people" vs. Dec is driven MOSTLY by admits in the 50-59 cohort!
- Yes, some ⬆️ in # of 49&U admits. BUT, the Ontario Science Table should know:
TWO data points DO NOT make a trend👇 https://t.co/XcfVy24lPh pic.twitter.com/EQGhmS4HES
Well, you know, facts ...
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