Florida v. Quebec

In the past, I put Sweden up against Quebec and Sweden won. No lockdowns. No masks. Better numbers.

Now we have a region closer to us in Florida. And Florida at the moment is open and free will dealing with an older population and variants. Governor Ron De Santis says all the right things. Here, we're over reacting to variants and still remain closed. In fact, Quebec has the most restrictive measures on the continent. It's baffling as it is absurd.

Forget the statistics. Florida is simply acting with common sense and established science. 

It's not just Florida we can use. We can look at places like Georgia, Iowa and the mid-West, and Texas as well. We have examples of what open is.

And we have examples of what the stale strategy of the past year entails. 

I stand by Canada, Ontario and Quebec have failed. 

In fact, here's Canada's Public Health Measures annex. Not only have Quebec and Ontario acted illegally and against their own laws, they run afoul of the WHO, UN and our own recommendations. 

"2.1.1 Factors Influencing Public Health Measures in a Pandemic

When planning public health measures, decision-makers must weigh not just the costs of implementation but also any secondary impacts. Social and economic impacts on individuals, families, communities and businesses due to, for example, closing schools or cancellation of public events, should be considered with any intervention and weighed against its potential benefit. Individual behavioural measures, such as practicing hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette and self-isolation when ill, are promoted during seasonal influenza and should be encouraged in any pandemic scenario. Other measures, such as school closures and border restrictions, are complex, costly to sustain and likely to have unintended societal and economic consequences.

2.3.2 Scientific Findings

Public health measures studies conducted during and after the 2009 influenza pandemic produced many key findings that have informed Canada's public health measures strategy and are further discussed in Section 3.5. The key findings include:

Masks worn by ill individuals may protect uninfected individuals from virus transmission, but little evidence exists that mask use by well individuals avoids infection.

For masks to be effective, individuals must wear them consistently and correctly; these actions can be challenging. Masks must be worn only once, never shared and always changed when soiled or wet. If not used properly, masks may lead to a greater risk of pandemic influenza transmission because of contamination, or they may make the user overconfident and hence neglectful of other personal protective measures, such as hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette and self-isolation when measures that have been deemed important complementary actions to the use of masks for the reduction of disease transmission. Finally, given that masks cannot be used when eating and drinking and may make communication difficult, wearing them for prolonged periods may be impractical and ineffective. It is important to present the limitations of mask use to the public.

 Advice on proper disposal of used masks should accompany any recommendations for their use in the community setting. "