The real scandal is not that Canada sent “approximately 16 tonnes of personal protective equipment, such as clothing, face shields, masks, goggles and gloves” to China at the beginning of February. Maybe it’s a bit surprising China would need it: It makes all that stuff, and is not known to struggle with emergency production. This is a country that recently built two new hospitals in two weeks. But as a Global Affairs Canada press release put it, fighting coronavirus at its source was “vital to … protecting the health and safety of people around the world.”
Here’s the real scandal: We have spent the better part of two decades congratulating ourselves about how much we learned from SARS-Cov-1, which killed 38 people in Ontario in 2003. “If there’s any country in the world that’s as prepared as it’s going to be, it’s this one,” the chief of staff at Toronto’s Humber River Hospital told Global News in January. Now Humber River is one of several facilities running low on the most basic supplies necessary to fight the much deadlier SARS-Cov-2 (the virus that causes of COVID-19) while keeping our stalwart medical professionals safe. Some have started rationing face masks, even as they require more personnel to wear them.
The problem seems to be most acute in Ontario. Hospitals are accepting donations of masks, goggles, gowns and gloves. University labs, dentists, veterinarians and even artists are being asked to donate. A stockpile of expired masks is being used in “lower-risk areas,” Canadian Press reported this week. Canadians should not have to be relieved about a stockpile of expired medical equipment. It is clear that despite all our boasting, we were once again disastrously unprepared. That will need answering for, as will much else.
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See Also:
(1) More than 50,000 face shields sent to China could have been used here
(2) Was the Liberals’ attempted power grab really about the coronavirus?
