WHO To Believe? Canada Follows The Mis-Leader

No battle plan survives contact with the enemy, wrote German military theorist Helmuth von Moltke. Boxer Mike Tyson more graphically explained, “Everybody’s got a plan till they get punched in the mouth”. In short, anyone who says they know what’s going on in the early days of a crisis doesn’t know what’s going on.

This still doesn’t prevent governments, businesses and heavyweight fighters from contracting elaborate, fantastically expensive plans for vanquishing powerful foes. If you don’t believe me then I have some prime lots on the Maginot Line to sell you. 

It also does not prevent the heroes of the rearview mirror from excoriating those who draw up such plans over their failures. Safely seated in the 20/20 hindsight position they can see clearly the obvious gaps and failures of judgement that cost lives and fortunes. The harshest critics are ready to start damning their subjects before the contest is even halfway done.

So it has been for the coulda-shoulda-woulda-be’s unpeeling the unsavoury story of the Covid-19 policy disaster. The guilty parties have already been identified, the gibbet his being built and executions are nigh. When the truth is that no one is exactly sure what the facts are. 

As author/ Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams tweeted, “The most brain-dead opinion on our government's #coronavirus response is that you and I would have made different decisions if we had the same information our leaders had at various points.”

It is the helplessness about the implications of Covid-19 and the economic disaster it has wrought that terrifies a population huddled in their homes under government orders.

A perfect example of the information gap is the World Health Organization. Canada’s response to the virus has been in lockstep with the WHO’s wandering policy on first identifying and then stopping Covid-19. CBC Radio is also a big fan— or big enough to do segments extolling the WHO’s website which promises to bust the myths surrounding Covid-19, hydroxychloroquine and the use of masks to prevent transmission of the virus.

But impertinent people have been pointing out that WHO has been a shill for China’s handling of the virus they incubated, sought to hide and, in doing so, shared with the world. Here's Canada's point person on Covid-19, Dr. Teresa Tam, speaking on Feb. 4 about following WHO's recommendations on not stopping direct flights with China. "Having measures that very negatively affect a certain country that’s trying very hard to do its best can impede whether this country in the future will ever share anything transparently with others. China posted the virus genome very quickly. What are they getting out of it? I think the idea is to support China." 

Did you get that? She's more worried about China having a hissy fit than keeping the virus from Canadians. Next thing Canada did after Tam’s love tap was ship much of its strategic reserved in personal safety equipment to China. So now we know what China got out of flights still going to Canada.

Now here's Dr. Howard Njoo, Deputy Chief Public Health Officer, Public Health Agency, repeating the WHO line on containment on Feb. 26  "We have contained the virus. There have been 12 cases to date in Canada. That’s a relatively low number compared to other countries. All of the cases, I would say, are isolated or at least isolated to travellers coming to Canada or their very close contacts." And because he was on a roll: "From a public-health perspective, closing the borders has never proven to be effective in terms of stopping the spread or the introduction of disease into any country.”

Batting cleanup here was the WHO itself on Feb. 29. “In general, evidence shows that restricting the movement of people and goods during public health emergencies is ineffective in most situations and may divert resources from other interventions.”

It also said such disruptions would be useless to countries experiencing an outbreak. “Travel bans to affected areas or denial of entry to passengers coming from affected areas are usually not effective in preventing the importation of cases but may have a significant economic and social impact.” 

Then for giggles they opined on screening at point of entry. “Temperature screening alone, at exit or entry, is not an effective way to stop international spread, since infected individuals may be in incubation period, may not express apparent symptoms early on in the course of the disease, or may dissimulate fever through the use of antipyretics; in addition, such measures require substantial investments for what may bear little benefits.” 

There’s much more WHO disinformation, but based on just this the WHO is hands-down winner of the Neville Chamberlain "Peace In Our Time" Award. Which is not to suggest they deliberately misled the public. Only that officials going on CBC to pimp for the WHO based on their Covid-19 track record has a huge lift to convince anyone who’s been paying attention. 

South Korea, Taiwan and a few other Asian nations made different choices from the WHO and its adherents. They contained the virus with limited losses by ignoring the advice on which Dr. Tam stakes her credibility. But still we’re told by CBC to go to the WHO website for the real skinny on the pandemic.

That’s a credibility gap we don’t need as life savings go into the toilet. As Mark Twain observed, “Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought an idiot than open your mouth and confirm everyone’s suspicions.”

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). He’s also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also the best-selling author of Cap In Hand which is available on BruceDowbigginBooks.ca