Roger-Luc Chayer
In all countries of the world, the current pandemic is causing great impatience both in the search for greater freedom of movement and in the normal resumption of economic activity. In Quebec, as in the rest of Canada, the public has behaved relatively well in the face of containment measures and curfews. It is by comparing ourselves with France, Italy or Brazil that we see that the right decisions have been made, even if sometimes they are poorly understood and certainly poorly explained.
I have decided to share with the readers the fruit of my reflection, and the reasons which push me to respect the sanitary instructions more than ever. The best example that always comes to mind to explain government measures is the principle of communicating vessels.
It must be realized that since the beginning of this whole adventure, the goal of governments has been to safeguard the health system so that it does not collapse due to too many infections requiring acute care at the same time. Let us imagine if the Government of Quebec had decided to let things go, a bit like in Brazil, and also a bit like in France or Italy. Currently, Quebec has about 800 hospitalizations for a people of eight million, while in France for 80 million inhabitants, it is 26,000 hospitalizations, in Italy, it is even worse with almost 38,000 hospitalizations, we are bordering on disaster. . Want to see a disaster in real time? Brasil. People are no longer being treated, there is a shortage of oxygen, a shortage of anesthetics, so patients who are awake during the procedure and tied to their beds are shackled. Some patients are tubed outside, lying on a mattress on the sidewalks around hospitals. It is the horror!
If our government had not decided to be proactive and to drive out the virus as best it could, it was to prevent a collapsing health system from overflowing on state officials who, for their part, too many of them fell ill, could lead to governance failure! Who would then administer the health network, social assistance, public housing, which would clean the streets, pick up the trash?
And then if too many law enforcement agencies got sick, who would keep our cities and territories safe? If teachers fell disproportionately ill, who would teach face-to-face or even remotely?
It’s all a question of communicating vessels. If one pillar of the state collapses, the others will follow with the same logic AND THIS IS THAT the governments of Canada and Quebec want to avoid and let’s face it, we are doing pretty well if we compare ourselves to the others. Nobody dies of hunger in Quebec, nobody is left behind in Canada, even if we find that the confinement is a bit long and that the curfew harms a lot of industries, I am still lucky to be able to me. To complain about it, because elsewhere, hundreds of thousands of deaths are the result, and they no longer have the luxury of being able to complain!