The fact that we're in the midst of a
preventable pandemic has me quite
disappointed.

After the SARS epidemic of 2003, I
thought that there were two main
lessons to be learned. And if I was
aware of these lessons, governmental
authorities should have been as well.
Epidemic diseases are not my area of
specialization.

The first lesson involved the handling
of small livestock in Chinese markets.
It seemed clear after the SARS
outbreak that stacking animals in
cages, one atop another, offered a
dangerous breeding ground for
pathogens and a route to inter-species
transmission. Urine, feces, and
whatever else fell from the upper
cages onto the animals beneath. I
won't even comment on the humanity of
that arrangement. But it was fertile
ground for the passage of pathogens
from one animal to another, and then
to the humans who worked with them. I
thought it was clear that those
practices had to change.

Apparently, the Chinese government was
also aware that it was even worse to
permit the intermixing of wild and
domestic animals in these stacked-cage
scenarios, but after a brief
prohibition, permitted a resumption of
the wildlife trade.[1]

Secondly, it seemed clear after the
SARS outbreak that employment
practices here in Canada were also
a big part of the problem.
Underemployed medical staff working
part-time and casual jobs at multiple
locations served as vectors for the
transmission of SARS from one facility
to another. I wondered if anything was
being done to address that practice in
the years afterward. Apparently, if
anything was done, it was not enough.
Staff working at multiple locations
are once again carrying pathogens from
one facility to another.[2] That's
something that should have been
addressed through administrative
employment practices or collective
bargaining.

I guess there's one more issue that's
irritating me. The Chinese government
covered up the SARS epidemic for
several months. Commentators at the
time wondered whether that was partly
because of a shaky transition of power
from Jiang Zemin to Hu Jintao
(succession in the CCP has long been
problematic, and admitting to a major
problem so soon after taking power
could provide rivals with an edge).

But this time, there were once again
efforts to cover up the initial
outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic.
In 2020, Xi Jinping is firmly in
power, holding the titles of
President, Chairman of the Central
Military Commission, and General
Secretary of the Communist Party. So I
guess covering up perceived failures
is just endemic in China's
party-government apparatus.

I have no great political statement to
make at the end of this phlog. It's
just disappointing that such easy
lessons were not learned and such
obvious remedies were not applied.

/rant

Oh, and a shout out to dgold at the
Grey Area phlog. Glad the e-reader is
serving you well.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPpoJGYlW54

[2] https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2020HLTH0077-000484