No Time to Die... from COVID-19

[robkelk]

Hands up, everybody who already knew that the person in charge of the WHO's first response to COVID-19 is from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Yeah, I didn't think I'd see any hands. Mine wasn't up, either.

A short interview with Dr. Bruce Aylward

What is the biggest challenge you face with preventing the spread of COVID-19?

I think the single biggest challenge we faced is a misunderstanding and often a softpedalling of this at the level of the population.

People are clever. People are concerned about their health. People will do the right things if they have the right information.

What we've seen is people are cherry-picking data. So they look at the lowest possible case fatality rates and say, "Oh look, it's like seasonal flu." Or they pick, "Oh it doesn't spread so fast because of this," or "Oh it only affects the older ones, I'm safe." And none of those propositions are true.

There's no reason to panic about this disease, but you have to be deeply concerned. This is not seasonal flu. It's an order of magnitude [with] tenfold — at least — higher mortality rate. Yes, it does strike vulnerable populations, but it can strike any age, let's be very, very clear — especially between your 30s and 60s and the older population.

If the population understands all those things, it will play ball. And I find the single biggest challenge is the populations aren't always getting clear enough information.

---

Arctic Winter Games cancelled amid coronavirus concerns

Yukon's acting chief medical officer of health, Dr. Catherine Elliott, made the recommendation because she felt there was no scenario where it would be safe to conduct the games.