A retired doctor's advice about Horgan's `tonne of bricks'
Re: Asked about people coming into B.C. who don't follow health guidelines, Horgan said province will “come down on you like a tonne of bricks.”
Here is what a retired physician thinks that B.C. Premier John Horgan should do with his “tonne of bricks:”
1. Immediately call a news conference and alert all B.C. residents that we are at war with a sneaky, cunning, insidious enemy called the coronavirus that has infiltrated all segments of society and we are losing the war. All levels of government have done too little, too late. The namby, pamby (“be kind”) approach hasn't worked.
2. Immediately issue a provincewide “stay-at-home” order for the next three weeks effective immediately. As demonstrated by New Zealand and Australia, the virus can't spread if everyone stays at home.
3. The only exceptions to leave home would be to get groceries, pick up prescriptions, seek urgent medical help or exercise (walk, run and cycle, etc.) outdoors maintaining six-feet distance from others. Schools closed immediately for three weeks. Essential services restricted and if meat-packing plants are deemed essential then all employees must be tested for coronavirus before going to work, and weekly thereafter.
4. The police should arrest any rule-breakers and immediately cart them off to jail where they would be released after 24 hours and only after all their fines have been paid.
5. In wartime we don't allow the enemy into our territory and so all travel from outside B.C. should stop immediately. That means all airports, etc., into B.C. should be shut down immediately and all land border crossings into B.C. halted. You can't fly or drive if you're at home.
6. Assign Dr. Penny Ballem to ensure rapid administration of vaccine so that 80 per cent of B.C. residents have received their first dose within three weeks. By then the case numbers will be low enough so that testing and tracking can resume effectively, and then gradually start to open up things. Quit blaming the feckless feds for not delivering adequate vaccine to meet the three-week target — look elsewhere for additional supplies — if Israel can do it, then B.C. can.
Former U.S. president Teddy Roosevelt's “talk softly and carry a big stick” seems appropriate — we just have forgotten the stick.