Well, the start of a New Year has arrived, but it doesn’t feel all that much different from the start of last year. We are now into another wave of the COVID pandemic, much like we were last year with Delta on the horizon. Many celebratory and sporting events were either cancelled or reduced with restrictions in place; airline travel has been seriously affected by new cases of the more highly infectious Omicron variant; cruise ships are returning to ports as a result of cases on board; and businesses have had to keep their people working from home wherever possible. The biggest difference between the two years is the fact that we now have millions of people vaccinated against the coronavirus. We also have better medical treatments for those who do become infected. However, hospitals and the health care system are once again being strained by the sudden influx of new cases globally and locally. COVID continues to affect supply chains around the world, causing serious shortages in many goods and foods.
Unfortunately, the politicization of health measures, including masking and social distancing, is still out there. However, the big difference is that now the vaccination policies of governments and businesses have come increasingly under attack by the anti-vaxxers. Even local public health providers have come under attack, many unfortunately being personally threatened and harassed by protesting groups and individuals. Yes, pandemic fatigue has grown after over two years of combating this virus. As a result, some states have actually removed certain related health measures and refused to endorse mandated vaccinations within essential services. Like before, the U.S. appears to be seriously split down the middle, often between Republican and Democratic state legislators and governors. In some cases, the politicians have taken over from public health officials and are calling the shots, despite record new COVID-related cases and the increasing strain on health care resources within their jurisdictions. This split is less of a concern in Canada where provincial and territorial governments have relied heavily on public health officials for their expert advice when it comes to setting policies and distributing resources, claiming they are closely following the science involved.
The introduction of new COVID variants and the lack of progress in vaccinating populations in lesser developed countries have ensured that the pandemic remains a global concern. Let’s be clear, until countries like the U.S. and Canada do more to help out countries in Africa, Asia and Central and South America, the war against COVID will continue for some time. We need to get over our internal divisions and quickly work together to get this virus under control domestically, while simultaneously working with international organizations and other industrialized countries to speed up assistance to Third World countries. While the beginning of 2021 offered hope with the amazing advent of new vaccines to protect us from this disease, that same hope needs to be passed along to people in other countries. Only then can we really hope that 2022 will be a happier and healthier year than 2021 was.
FROLITICKS 