Leadership void sets stage for viral revival
Humanity has devised many calendars through the millennia — the Hebrew, Buddhist, Julian, Islamic, Chinese, Persian, Gregorian among others — to count the days and track the seasons.
In what we might call the calendar of the vernacular, we have come around again to the unofficial “last week of summer” and the unofficial “new year.”
In the rhythm of Ontario life, the Labour Day long weekend typically turns our mood autumnal, and the return to school for most students the following week is a time of new notebooks and fresh starts.
Usually, this is the week that nervous excitement grows, new outfits and school gear is purchased.
This year, however, in the midst of a growing fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic, it brings — for students, their families, teachers, health-care workers in particular — apprehension and anger.
The fear abides that Labour Day gatherings and the return to school could serve as the next big accelerant in the spread of the virus.
With both British Columbia and Manitoba bringing back mask mandates, and B.C. and Quebec announcing vaccine certificates that will limit access to gyms, arenas, restaurants, movies and such to those who’ve been vaccinated, provinces are clearly gearing up for things to get worse this fall when people go back indoors.
Worse has already arrived in Alberta where the daily count of new cases surged past 1,000 this week, the highest since mid-May, and hospitalizations also hit new highs.
Few likely imagined, after absorbing 26,000 COVID deaths across the country, numerous stay-at-home orders, then the relief of getting vaccinated through the spring and summer, that we would be girding for another battle come fall.
Seldom in Canadian history can there have been, in the face of crisis, such absence of leadership, such want of coherence, consistency, clarity in what to do and what to expect.
That some federal politicians and the chattering classes of Twitter were in a froth about a verbal slip by a middling cabinet minister instead of laser-focused on the chief concern of most Canadians goes a long way to explaining why an early summer election call might not have been the best idea.
It is further evidence, in fact, for the legitimately dim view many voters feel for this, so far, uninspiring campaign and for governments of all levels.
An online survey conducted for the Star by the public relations firm Navigator found COVID-19 the top concern for Canadians, followed by the economy and climate change.
Yet in Ontario, Doug Ford appears to be premier in name only, largely abdicating a leadership role in the pandemic fight. He has declined so far to establish the vaccine ID system that’s needed to help protect citizens and businesses.
This although vaccination rates have stalled below the level needed to control the Delta variant and Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s chief medical officer, warned recently of “a difficult fall and winter.”
The sorry performance of the Ontario government has the chief public health officer for eastern Ontario saying vaccine certificates are inevitable and if the province won’t lead then regions might be forced to go it alone.
Unhappily, Ford seems to do the necessary and inevitable only as a last resort.
Meanwhile, the Star reported this week that Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public officer of health, is also conspicuously absent on the national scene — and intends to stay that way.
Tam has said she will issue updates by news release and social media rather than holding the regular in-person briefings that Canadians have a right to expect in a health crisis.
In the absence of clear, decisive measures and communication from government, more and more businesses and institutions are stepping into the vacuum with mandatory rules for workers and students, or requiring proof of vaccination for those wishing to attend sporting events or concerts.
Inevitably, such ad hoc responses to the crisis creates the prospect of unfairness and leads not to a united resolve but self-interest, division and recrimination.
Private schools, such as Branksome Hall and Upper Canada College, will, for instance, mandate proof of vaccination for employees and eligible students before returning to in-person classes. That’s not the case for public schools where students will be at greater risk of being sent home because of outbreaks.
As summer ends, a summer in which too many political leaders decided to down tools and too many necessary measures were avoided, Ontario’s public health officer now estimates that the COVID waves might be under control by next spring if vaccination targets are hit.
The seasons roll on and young people and their families will return to school shortly with understandable anxiety.
In class, students will likely be told of the benefits to their studies of organization and planning, of focused attention, of active engagement, of teamwork and persistence until the assignment is completed.
It’s a shame they have so few good examples among their elders purportedly leading the pandemic fight.