It does look like they take better care of their elderly in Canada. https://nationalpost.com/news/in-ca...-declining-heres-the-story-behind-the-numbers The numbers are declining... people over age 60 made up 96% of death so far. .
Overall in Canada, people started to become serious about face masks, hand washing and social distancing since the beginning of May. Here in Québec the military had to move into the nursing homes to take care of the elderly because its poorly manage due to private ownership...not provincial government operated. It's been an ongoing health crisis in the elderly nursing homes for over a decade now and the Covid-19 was the perfect storm to expose all the cracks. Not a coincidence, it was the beginning of May when the prime ministers of each provinces started slowly making face mask wearing a priority. Yet, many businesses (e.g. grocery stores and pharmacies) made it mandatory before the recommendations by the prime ministers. Only recently here in July...Provincial prime ministers made it mandatory for all businesses. Early May...I had a hospital appointment. About 12 people in the waiting room...only 3 wearing face masks. In contrast, another hospital appointment last week (July) in the same place...about 15 people in the waiting room...everybody wearing face masks plus glasses / googles to protect the eyes. Simply, face mask wearing does make a difference although I have not seen too many elderly folks in the hospital...somewhat strange. In fact, my last hospital visit a week ago...I think I was the oldest in the waiting room and I'm 53. Unfortunately, my Province has the worst performance in Canada. wrbtrader
I thought our premier was nuts when he shut it down when we had a couple cases that started from cruise ships. Looking back it stopped it pretty early. Things have been open up now for a couple months and had a couple cases from travel but pretty quiet. Masks aren’t common here. Could be bad if did get going again but when the nearest case is 600 km away people just carry on normally.
I wouldn’t say as far as do what we’re told, but most got on board. What I noticed most from our friends to the south was people more or less not worried about catching it because their young and healthy, while here the young and healthy we’re scared of giving it to their friends/older family members. Maybe it’s just a perception thing but saw more “me” instead of “we”.
That's the difference, they treat them, in the USA and in the UK they don't bother literally if they'd of spend 1/2 the money on the lockdowns on health care they'd be less deaths. Covid's only actually killed 10K-20K discluding the just tested with, so no lockdown would of saved 40K-50K. They don't want less deaths, they want more deaths cause deaths create fear and with fear you get control over the stupid huddled masses Generally the only people dying are terminally ill and there just dying as per normal while testing positive for any Corona virus as the tests aren't specific to C19. Worst Pandemic ever, but nobody even knows anyone that knows anyone that's died from it, yeah right!!!
Canada had a few pluses that the USA did not have. Canada's government budget was at a huge surplus. Thus, they new they could give money away without crippling the economy. Another key difference, Prime Minister Trudeau's wife (Sophie) became sick / ill after testing positive for Covid-19 when she returned from an award ceremony in Europe. The same award ceremony that had a few celebrities become very ill from Covid-19 in which they required hospitalization. Prime Minister, his wife and their children were then quarantine in their home with her in isolation and under medical care in a different section of their home. That all by itself, gave Trudeau a different perspective about Covid-19. Another key difference, Prime Minister Trudeau did not make face mask wearing a political thing and he trusted / follow the science (advice) of his health administration all the way down to the prime minister of the each provinces. The most notable difference was the nursing homes. They quickly determine early in the Pandemic that they need help from the military to manage them. Thus, they pushed aside the private owners for many weeks early in the Pandemic. In addition, they realized via a quick investigation that the staff tended to be ethnic minorities, extremely under pay in which many have 2 - 3 jobs at other nursing homes (making it easy to spread the disease) and less training or not enough training to deal with infectious diseases. In fact, I remember they quickly "triple" the pay of the nursing home staff, changed the training programs to include infectious diseases, hired more medically trained nurses and quickly got PPE supplies into the nursing homes...all of which made a huge difference. They actually had job fairs in a Pandemic in several provinces that included free / small fee education programs that would lead into full-time jobs (triple pay) in nursing homes. Also, I remember the daily news briefings live on TV in which the Prime Ministers of each provinces would show videos of socially irresponsible citizens (show their faces) at beaches, parks and large social gatherings... They shamed those people and often said they were disgusted in their behaviour. They wanted all of Canada to know whom these people were. They even went after the people whom returned back from the USA in their campers and parking in the parking lots of Walmart, grocery stores, malls to do last minute shopping without wearing a face mask... They shamed them too and used the power of peer pressure to enforce social responsibility. It was a strong and stark difference between the USA and Canada in which Canada used fear / shame to get people to wear face masks, social distancing and less large gatherings. In fact, the Prime Minister Trudeau's coronavirus news briefings were all outside and he was not surrounding by people behind him...standing shoulder to shoulder unlike those early March / April news briefings in the USA with President Trump being indoors and with key administration / medical individuals behind him standing should to shoulder. Simply, leadership behaviour is another key difference...arguably the biggest difference. Also, you noted...Canada is not as dense with its population although the cities are crowded (e.g. Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Québec City). People are more spread out and there are less multiple families living in the same communities. There's also another key difference...the Indigenous Canadian communities. They went into full tilt protection mode. Many closed their roads from outsiders and quickly got in PPE and trained nurses. They knew how vulnerable they were to these types of diseases in comparison to other cultures. Simply, they're more scared than others and they have a historical experience with diseases brought into their communities from the Europeans that they have not forgotten. Simply, they understand that diseases can be used intentionally in warfare...a weapon to decrease the population and gain more of their land. Also, I know for fact that the Indigenous Canadian communities got the word out fast to the Indigenous American communities in the North to do the same...a lot of wealth in the USA lands between these two communities...high traffic and pipeline building territory. I personally was in conference calls with my elders and distant family members in South Dakota about the Covid-19 threat. Sadly, the Indigenous American communities in the southwest are being hit heavily with Covid-19. I know friends that have died in Canada and the USA from Covid-19...vultures quickly contacted their families about any land they may have owned. https://theconversation.com/indigen...d-risk-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-142027 https://www.culturalsurvival.org/ne...nous-peoples-are-excluded-covid-19-statistics https://time.com/5808257/indigenous-communities-coronavirus-impact/ wrbtrader
Canada made some huge mistakes in oversight on privately run long term care, but in the last two months that seems to have been improved. We had some recent issues with farms in the Windsor area using migrant workers. And more recently as we open up level 3 there are signs of problems with young people attending parties doubling our recent infection counts. So we are not out of the woods in terms of a second wave at all but my guess is everything we've done to control the first wave puts us in a better position to deal with that moving forward.
French culture and population disparities within the french culture. Also, a large percentage of the Quebecois do not see itself as part of Canada...a historical problem from the Guerre de la Conquête (French Indian Wars). In some ways, many feel they don't need to integrate with Canada. Our attitude is just different...good and bad. Also, I saw early in the Pandemic when Québec was patting itself on the back with low Covid-19 cases...I knew it won't last long and that we'll soon be the leading (worst performance) province in Covid-19 cases. The French culture, the way we greet people...its more intimate than other cultures. That alone makes it very easy to spread diseases especially airborne diseases. Also, a less known incident within here in Québec. We actually re-open our schools early (too early). I think it was early April (disconnect from the rest of Canada) but within days had to lockdown again the school systems. Teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria employees, administration and children were becoming Covid-19 positive...some becoming hospitalized. That scared the hell out of the government. We also have the largest number of long-term care facilities that's very integrated with the rest of society in comparison to other provinces along with the fact that its a system that's privatized and not manage properly. In addition, Québec has the largest connection to the USA borders in the NorthEast and via the Saint Lawrence river. The Indigenous communities closed their borders before Canada/USA closed their borders to each other. In fact, Montréal (Covid-19 epic center in Canada) has strong connections to New York and France...both of which hit badly by Covid-19. I think Montréal alone makes up about 5% of Canada's population but has about 20% of Covid-19 cases... Essentially, Montréal is the New York / Florida of the USA or the Paris of France via its Covid-19 cases. wrbtrader