NYT: 430,000 flew from China to USA since December.

For the slow and the stupid among us, and those camels who try to walk like men but can't quite manage, a reminder of where the COVID-19 virus came from, and why we are all locked in at home with the drawbridge up.

From the Lefty paper of record, the NY Slimes:

430,000 People Have Traveled From China to U.S. Since Coronavirus Surfaced

There were 1,300 direct flights to 17 cities before President Trump’s travel restrictions. Since then, nearly 40,000 Americans and other authorized travelers have made the trip, some this past week and many with spotty screening.

In Canada we know that people have been freely flying into Toronto from Wuhan with no screening whatsoever. There's video on Rebel Media of them arriving.

We also know that the authorities are not handling the situation well.

Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam reiterated in a press conference on Monday.
"What we worry about is actually the potential negative aspects of wearing a mask, where people are not protecting their eyes or other aspects of where the virus could enter your body, and that gives you a false sense of confidence," Tam said.


"But also, it increases the touching of your face. If you think about it, if you've got a mask around your face sometimes you can't help it."
Last week, Health Canada released a warning about homemade masks, advising Canadians that they should be used with caution and have several limitations that surgical masks and respirators do not. Homemade masks have not been tested “to recognized standards.” They may not provide “complete protection” against viruses. They may be difficult to breathe through and made with ineffective fabric. They may also be loose-fitting and require frequent adjustments that would increase hand-to-face contact.
“Homemade masks are not medical devices and consequently are not regulated, like medical masks and respirators,” the agency wrote.

But gee, what if I have to go to the store? Come on, Dr. Tam, help me out here. Is it safe to wear something that's not OSHA Approved? Even if it only works half as well as the regulated one, isn't that worth it?

Nope. Because that home made mask "gives you a false sense of confidence," and because you are a mere untrained Canadian plebe, you are too stupid to manage properly. Stay home and starve until we tell you to come out, plebes.

Well, except that the Czech Republic does seem to be doing well with their home made mask policy. And up until fairly recently ALL masks were fabric. The fancy N/M-95s everybody wants are a comparatively recent invention. 1972.

They're pretty much all made off-shore in third world countries. 80% of 3M production seems to come from... China.

That name keeps popping up. The disease comes from China, just like every other flu in the last 40 years. It comes on airplanes, which seem to keep flying no matter what. China controls all the PPE production the West relies on to keep physicians and front-line staff safe. I'm not saying its was deliberate because I don't think the pricks are that clever. But there's not much they could have done differently if it was.

Then there's the evil capitalists. Its their fault we don't have stuff, right?

Looks like I have to remind some camels and other assorted tiny-brained mollusks that Canada is a SOCIALIST nation, and we have a GOVERNMENT CONTROLLED health care system. Like Italy, but unlike Italy there is no private hospital option.

That means all the purchasing of emergency supplies and sourcing of goods, PPE etc. is done by the GOVERNMENT.

Well, they didn't do it. There's -supposed- to be a significant stockpile of PPE and reagents and testing kits and all kinds of shit that you need for an epidemic. There USED TO BE exactly such a stockpile. But now, there isn't one. Its gone. Sold? Stolen? Eaten by aliens? We don't know. We will probably never know, because the media here are doing their level best to make the Liberals look good. (As well they might, the Liberals are PAYING them. Story for another day, there.)

Well, what are the eeevile capitalists doing?
Amazon.
Under Armor
Ontario government.

What they're doing, obviously, is running to pick up the slack being dropped by the all-seeing, all-knowing government.

What's the government doing? Buying shit from China which European countries have already reported huge problems with, and preparing to fine anyone who goes outside.

Oh, and why is there a ban on 3M exporting to Canada? Because a Canadian 3M distributor tried to jack the Americans up. That's why. Funny you don't see that in the Canadian news.

Social distancing is the worst possible solution to the problem. In large Canadian cities it is functionally impossible. Its impossible to ride a subway train safely without a mask and eye shield at the very least, because its an airborne contagion. You're going to get it. For sure.

But since the GOVERNMENT let this thing in, and since the GOVERNMENT didn't stock sufficient emergency stuff, and since the GOVERNMENT drove all manufacturing of vital emergency materials and equipment off-shore (because remember, they always go with the lowest bidder, which is always China) social distancing is the only solution available. Wash those hands, peons. No mask for you.

Maybe its time we all examine our relationship with the supposedly efficient and supposedly benign government of Canada, with an eye to making them a lot fucking smaller and in charge of a lot less important stuff.

The Phantom

Update: From the mouths of camels, a question.

"In Particular why was the supposedly greatest nation on Earth, the USA, so woefully unprepared? Mr Phantom’s own nation of Canada, is currently managing the disease better than the USA — not flawlessly by any means but still better. Why is that if the USA is just so good at things and has such great leadership currently?"

First, the camel being basically a transplanted Brit with no understanding of geographical scale (or anything else about Canada and the USA) does not comprehend that Canada has three (3) large cities of any appreciable density.  Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Calgary and Edmonton are big, but not very dense.

The USA has 10 or more as big as Montreal. The Greater NYC area contains 20 million people. You can't get 20 million people to "shelter in place" for much longer than two or three weeks. Its not practical.

Canada has 30 million total population. The USA has 300 million. Its as big as three Britains. It is literally an order of magnitude bigger than Canada. Given how badly they've been fucked over by their largest trading partner, and given the density of NYC area, they're doing pretty good.

Second, as outlined above, Canada is not managing the disease better than the USA. The USA already has military ships and field hospitals up and running in the hardest hit areas, beefing up the civilian response.

Canada does not have that. Because we don't actually have a real military when you get right down to it. We have about 10,000 troops who can do things and another 10,000 majors polishing chairs in Ottawa.

Third, USA is testing at a high rate, and expediting the manufacture of 15 minute tests to increase that rate. The CDC started slow and stupid, but it seems the leadership managed to kick them into some semblance of function. They are truthfully reporting their testing numbers as those numbers change daily. They are moving to identify and quarantine cases in the hopes of flattening the curve.

Canada is not doing that. They don't have test kits, they don't have lab capacity, they don't have supplies, and they're not reporting what they do have. Currently they are testing medical staff only, and the wait for a result is 12 days.

That means the numbers posted for Canada have very little to do with the progress of the pandemic. Conveniently, this makes Canada look better than the USA on the numbers game. But its not true. We're still doubling every 4-5 days, right on glide path.

Fourth, the FDA has already approved Hydroxychloroquine for use in treating COVID-19. They did the testing and pushed it through in a couple of weeks. They're ramping production and preparing to flood the market with billions of doses.

Hydroxychloroquine is NOT approved for COVID-19 in Canada. There is no information available suggesting when it might be. There are no plans to ramp production in Canada if we even make it here. Currently the OMA is telling doctors not to use it. It is sitting in the pharmacy sure enough, but you can't have any. This of course means that family of physicians and pharmacists are getting treated but no one else is. Very socialist.

Overall, we here in Canada are doing about as well as Italy. It just isn't as far along the curve yet. Shit's going to get real pretty soon though. I'm afraid for my parents, let me tell you.

So in answer to this snide question: "Why is that if the USA is just so good at things and has such great leadership currently?"

 The answer is simple. Everything you've heard about how great Canada is doing is a lie. 

We don't have PPE. We don't have approval for known treatments. We don't have military medical support. We don't have testing. We don't even have hand sanitizer. Our leadership is telling us NOT to wear masks when we go out. Our supply chain for necessary goods is -fucked-. It can't improve for at last 6 months.

If we're not extremely careful the spring planting season will get screwed up, and then the whole world is going to feel the lack of Canadian wheat and corn. 

Tell me again how great social distancing is, floppy. Scaring people into staying home is the last refuge of socialism. Its stupid, it doesn't work, and its killing our economy. But because of assholes whinging about how closing the airport is racist, its all we've got. Fuckin' A.