COVID’s Return: We’re Stumbling Instead Of Dancing

COVID has made a worrisome resurgence. It’s time for a reset.

We were extremely fortunate in Alberta to suffer only a glancing blow from COVID-19 during the first wave of the virus’ march around the globe. We prepared for a tsunami of cases but encountered barely a ripple.

There were a number of reasons why we were spared, as I discussed in some detail last May in This Pandemic is a Three-Legged Beast. In short — to bluntly oversimplify — it had as much to do with luck as it did with brains; as much to do with simple good fortune as with specific government or public health policies.

Yet we didn’t shrink from taking full credit for our “success” — we nearly broke our arms patting ourselves on the back. And we set Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw on a pedestal for steering us expertly through virus-infested waters.

Edmonton Journal columnist David Staples summed up the prevailing sentiment in a May 22 segment:

“Albertans have triumphantly answered one huge question about our response to COVID-19 with a grand slam home run,” he declared. “We have proven that we’re wise, diligent and responsible enough to drive down infection rates. Albertans haven’t just flattened the curve. We have steamrolled it and chucked it down a big hill.”