By now many of us have seen “Come from Away,” the longest-running Canadian Broadway show ever, a charming musical about the warm welcome the people of Gander, Newfoundland, gave thousands of international air travellers diverted there after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It’s a funny, beautifully crafted celebration of the empathy and openness of Newfoundlanders — an attitude that must have something to do with living by the sea because Atlantic Canadians in general are famous for the same traits, albeit expressed in an accent that’s usually a little easier to understand.
But now COVID madness seems to have overtaken the region. On friendly Prince Edward Island, of all places, people with off-Island licence plates are finding their cars keyed, with angry messages folded under their windshield wipers telling them, in even pungently unquotable terms, to go back to Away. I enjoyed P.E.I. hospitality first-hand just 10 months ago — though that now seems as distant as 2001, even 1901 — so it’s strange to think fellow Canadians will get no welcome at all in this traditionally most welcoming of regions. Will we soon, Soviet-style, need internal passports to get around?
This thought occurred to me as I read a new research paper on “immunity passports” by Daniel Hemel and Anup Malani, professors at the University of Chicago Law School. (Malani is also at the Pritzker School of Medicine.) Like most of the current Niagara of COVID research, it has not yet been peer-reviewed. But who its authors are employed by gives them instant cred.
Immunity passports don’t exist yet but it’s not hard to imagine that at some stage people who have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies will get official certification that will allow them to: travel more widely (maybe even to P.E.I.); work where social distancing is difficult; ride in elevators; and frequent pubs and bars. If you’re an economist, as soon as you hear about such a possibility your mind turns to what could go wrong. Thus the title of Hemel and Malani’s paper is “Immunity passports and moral hazard.”
[Interesting Read]
See Also:
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(2) Trudeau won’t fire himself for breaking conflict law
(3) Liberal party finished 2019 having spent $43 million, raised $42 million
(5) Justin Trudeau might skip US-Canada-Mexico summit due to tariff and coronavirus
