To hear the mainstream media talking heads, Covid-19 has been terribly mishandled in Ontario. Because I'm reading about high case loads in so many jurisdictions, I wondered how bad the situation has been in Ontario compared with other places. See the table below.
First I compared it with Michigan, next door, where there was a massive lockdown early and where I was raised.
Next, I thought (no foolin') "When I moved to London, Ontario, it was about the same size as Des Moines, Iowa, so let's look at Iowa.
And then I added some of the Canadian provinces, along with Sweden, New Zealand, and Vermont (which has low totals in the US).
Despite having done lots of testing, Ontario has had a comparatively low number of total cases and a comparatively low number of new cases per day. Places with lower numbers have been comparatively isolated areas (Nova Scotia, which requires quarantine for anyone entering or returning to the province; New Zealand; and Vermont).
All-in-all, it looks as if Ontario has not done such a bad job of dealing with Covid-19. Other people can do other comparisons (I know mine is far from comprehensive), but I think it's time to view the mainstream media treatment of Ontario's experience with even more skepticism.
Aside: I'm aghast that people are not taking care, distancing, avoiding close-quarters indoors with groups, wearing masks when appropriate, etc. There's no doubt the number of cases has risen as children go to school and young people do more socializing, but compare the traffic on your streets these days with the lack of traffic we saw back in March and April. It's not just kids and young people; we're all going out more and taking more risks.
I'm okay with this. There are trade-offs; everyone takes risks to save money or increase their inconvenience. At home, Ms. Eclectic and I are taking reasonably well-planned risks at times to see friends and relatives (well-distanced, masked, etc.). As many people have noted, isolation and loneliness can be deadly, too.
There are undoubtedly myriad explanations for the differences. But the main point of this post is that the media have been treating Premier Doug Ford and the Ontario gubmnt as if they are careless idiots. These comparisons suggest otherwise.
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The data are from worldometer, and various gubmnt websites. I'm sure they're not always strictly comparable, and I may have made transcription errors.