Sunday, 5 May 2024

Five people to listen to during coronavirus outbreak — and five to ignore

Stay home. Don’t leave if you don’t have to.

Don’t go to the pub, don’t sit in a restaurant and don’t invite your friends over. If you need some fresh air, a walk is good but keep at least two metres between you and people who aren’t already in close contact with you at home.

That’s the advice experts are offering as the new coronavirus continues to spread.

And yet, amid so many headlines and so much panic and anxiety, it’s easy to get confused. It was social distancing, now it’s physical distancing. Playgrounds were an OK respite for parents trapped inside with their kids, but now they’re not.

If you’re confused about who to pay attention to and who to ignore, you’re not alone.

Here are five voices to listen to and five more to tune out:

LISTEN: Dr. Theresa Tam

Canada’s chief public health officer is the go-to for the latest Canadian messaging on self-quarantine and COVID-19 case numbers. She’s also the best person nationally to speak to hospitals’ attempts to increase their capacity, the purchase of additional ventilators and other much-needed equipment.

Tam also keeps her Twitter feed frequently updated with the mental health aspects of physical distancing that people should be watchful for, as well as how to best talk about the pandemic with your children and teenagers.

LISTEN: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Trudeau, who is himself in isolation after his wife was diagnosed with COVID-19, has been providing Canadians with daily updates on the country’s plan for addressing the virus.

On March 23, he urged people to take physical distancing more seriously — lest the government need to resort to more extreme measures to force people to. For the most recent updates, click here.

LISTEN: Dr. Anthony Fauci

The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases often appears at COVID-19 press conferences with Donald Trump. He also often contradicts what Trump is saying, providing a near-immediate fact check — to both the delight and worry of those who fear Trump will fire Fauci for contradicting him.

“I don’t want to embarrass (Trump),” Fauci recently told The New York Times.

“I don’t want to act like a tough guy, like I stood up to the president. I just want to get the facts out. And instead of saying, ‘You’re wrong,’ all you need to do is continually talk about what the data are and what the evidence is.”

LISTEN: ‘Dr. Tedros’

WHO director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, or “Dr. Tedros” as some have taken to calling him, has been a near-constant face as the world grapples with COVID-19.

He urged the rest of the world to brace for the virus, continues to remind young people that they are “not invincible” despite their reluctance to practise physical distancing, and is part of the core COVID-19 team at the WHO, that you should look to for guidance.

LISTEN: Your local public health officer

Across Canada, public health officers have provided nearly nonstop COVID-19 updates. They’ve spoken about their own efforts at physical distancing and done their best to offer people a sense of certainty in uncertain times.

Here’s who to look to for the most up-to-date information:

  • Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta
  • Dr. Bonnie Henry, British Columbia
  • Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia
  • Dr. Horacio Arruda, Quebec
  • Dr. Jennifer Russell, New Brunswick
  • Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba
  • Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto
  • Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, Newfoundland and Labrador
  • Dr. Brendan Hanley, Yukon
  • Dr. Saqib Shahab, Saskatchewan

Source: Read Full Article

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