I’m tired of seeing the shoulder-shrugging and defeatism around COVID in Canada. Talked with my mom (who is in Edmonton) yesterday and she raised questions about why NZ did so well. Was it because NZ is an island? Because it’s not as cold? What could it be?! (1/n) #covid19ab

My mom is a smart lady. We corrected her and she accepted our arguments. A sole caregiver, she doesn’t really have a lot of time to research the nuances of these things. She relies on a) govt, which has been confusing in AB, and b) friends and family, who are even more confused.

NZ has done so well with COVID because of: good leadership, sensible and strict measures to eliminate the virus, and commitment to the plan. The island thing is a ruse people trot out to convince themselves that it’s not worth trying to achieve the same results in Canada. (3/n)

The “we can’t restrict too much because of the economy” thing is bullshit. NZ’s economy took a big hit during Apr-Jun 2020 lockdown, but now it is primarily the tourism industry that is struggling. Nat’l unemployment rate? 4.9%. How’s Canada doing, again? (4/n) #COVID19nz

Canada (and Alberta in particular) has done poorly with COVID because of a lack of leadership in most of the country (Atlantic provinces excepted). In Alberta, I would argue it’s almost the opposite of leadership, more like active political sabotage by incompetents (5/n)

I find it agonising to watch because now, just as the numbers look set to spike with new, more virulent variants and with widespread vaccination still a ways off, my family members are showing how their attitudes towards it all have been subverted by the leadership vacuum. (6/n)

One family member declaring to me that they were “no longer afraid of this virus”, photos of family members from different households getting together without masks and hugging each other, including elderly relatives. And some of these are my “careful” family members! (7/n)

And now my mom repeating lazy arguments about NZ’s success being a fluke of geography. No, I’m sorry. If any of my family members die in the coming months, it’s not because NZ is an island(s). It’s soft-brained leadership and their enablers that have made it happen. (8/n)

This is the biggest health risk I have had to deal with in NZ recently. Do you know what the lifeguards did? They got everyone out of the water until the coast was (literally) clear. Why the fuck haven’t Canadian govts done the same with COVID? (9/9)

Maybe I’ll add a bit of context about what lockdown looked like in NZ: we were not permitted to leave our neighbourhoods during the strictest lockdown period, which lasted most of a month. The only businesses open were pharmacies and food stores.

Everyone apart from “essential services” worked from home. If they were unable to work from home, there was a wage subsidy that made sure everyone made a minimum income through lockdown, and businesses were also supported.

A lot of Kiwis DID NOT LIKE IT. There was a lot of grumbling, especially as restrictions wore on. But leadership communicated very clearly, as simply as possible, and everyone knew what they were meant to do. The vast majority of people complied, and we crushed the virus.

Think Alberta and Canada have too many Trump-style “free thinkers”? I present to you: Australia! Homeland of Fox News! Coal-loving climate change deniers! Ok, not all of them, but it’s not all Albertans either. Aus has done exceptionally well with COVID. So no lame excuses, pls.