toward a just and sustainable world
Canada’s proportion of COVID-19 deaths in long-term care double the average of other countries, study shows: The proportion of long-term care deaths ranged from less than 10 per cent in Slovenia and Hungary to 31 per cent in the United States to 66 per cent in Spain. CBC, June 25 Geronticide Update, July 2, … Read more COVID-19 Update 16, July 6
🇨🇦 Ontario’s nursing homes have had 22 years to do safety upgrades. COVID-19 reveals deadly cost of delay. Hardest hit nursing homes are still operating at 1972 structural safety standard — and most are owned by for-profit companies. A failure to make safety upgrades to their buildings in the past two decades appears to … Read more COVID-19 Update 15, June 23
With the COVID-19 mortality rate nearly 6 times higher than the rest of the country (586.7/M vs 102.2/M), what has gone wrong in QuĂ©bec? From the beginning of the pandemic there have been complaints of shortages of staff, personal protective equipment and other critical supplies, of incompetence and mismanagement by the provincial government. “Burnt-out … Read more COVID-19 Update 14, June 8
“Nearly half of Twitter accounts pushing to reopen America may be bots. There has been a huge upswell of Twitter bot activity since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, amplifying medical disinformation and the push to reopen America.” MIT Technology Review, May 21, by Karen Hao * Kathleen M. Carley and her team at … Read more COVID-19 Update 13, May 29
Here are some thoughts as I look at some of the available information in pursuit of some usable understanding of the COVID-19-causing novel coronavirus SARS CoV-2, and what we can and must do about it. Open access to research has been a blessing and a curse, as preprints which have yet to be peer reviewed … Read more The Coronavirus Pandemic: Evidence from Virology and Immunology
Geronticide report: 23:00, May 19 – Canada deaths 6152, LTC resident deaths 5299 – 86.1% Thanks to the Ontario Hospital Association for maintaining an up-to-date inventory of all the latest research and information on COVID-19 and making it readily available to the public at oha.com. The research is well organized into categories including among … Read more COVID-19 Update 12, May 22
A COVID-19 outbreak at the White House. Oy Gevalt! Wisconsin Supreme Court overturns stay at home order setting a precedent for other states. Whistleblower Rick Smith fired by Trump from his job as head of Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency warns of “darkest winter in modern history” coming unless a coordinated national action … Read more COVID-19 Update 11, May 16
This update is dedicated to my friends Jean Smith and John Valleau, life long workers for peace and justice. UN News, April 14: “Hatred going viral in a dangerous epidemic of misinformation.” * hatred against the Chinese * Chinese hatred against Blacks in China * hatred against immigrants and refugees in many places * … Read more COVID-19 Update 10, May 10
Mel Hurtig, Maude Barlow, Tommy Douglas, Margaret Atwood, David Suzuki, Farley Mowat… I have been a supporter of the Council of Canadians since the beginning in 1985. Here are the headlines from the Council’s recent update: Some governments using COVID-19 crisis to roll back environmental protections Council calls on government to support workers – … Read more COVID-19 Update 9, May 5
While the emergence of Covid-19 and its global spread is radically changing the social and economic future of our planet, it is appropriate to reflect on how all life is interconnected and interdependent. Two fairly recent events in Toronto drew attention to deep and interlinked adverse local and global trends that provide points of … Read more Canadian challenges for justice and sustainability in the Anthropocene