Laying It Out: The anger is fair but blaming doctors is not

By Medicine Hat News Opinion on March 6, 2021.

It’s extremely important to show compassion for those expressing anger and frustration over what will soon be the one-year anniversary of Alberta’s initial COVID-19 health restrictions.

I don’t see how anyone could be happy about where we are at.

It’s been the year that felt like 10, and from the moment we heard what a coronavirus was, its potential duration has been downplayed across the country. “Flatten the curve” so we can “live with the virus” was the message we received on multiple occasions, and Albertans (just like everyone else) assumed life would be out of whack for a matter of weeks.

When that didn’t happen, the seeds of COVID fatigue were planted. And when a full year goes by, and vaccines are now the talk of the town, it would honestly be unnatural if weariness didn’t turn into eagerness.

Or maybe I should say, anxiousness.

In a world dependent on the circulation and flow of currency, you can’t just put up economic dams for a year without them having a profound effect on people. And it’s important to note no one is suggesting that isn’t true.

Money is needed to live, and for the vast majority, money is hard to come by. Being forced into spending whatever you may have saved, or going further into debt, doesn’t just affect your life, it affects the lives around you.

The economy’s effect on your ability to survive is very real, and don’t let anyone tell you it’s selfish to want to make money – to need to make money. If you thought the pandemic would be over by now, your frustration is warranted.

However.

No matter how long coronavirus has overstayed its welcome, or how unsure you are of your livelihood’s ability to withstand it, the second doctors are blamed for the economy, we’ve officially given up on reason.

And when elected officials are doing it, it gives people reason to do the same. Medicine Hat Mayor Ted Clugston had a lot to say this past Monday when the government announced only a partial move into stage two of its reopening plan, and as I said above, certain aspects of his frustrations were perfectly understandable.

But then he said this.

“I’m reading that some doctors are telling the premier to not lift restrictions. I’d like to see each one of those doctors who said that give half their salary to a business owner or a restaurant owner. When you demand people lose their livelihoods you better be willing to give up some of yours.”

I wanted to offer an economic disclaimer because I’ve been writing a lot about the virus lately, and I’ve been warning people that lifting restrictions is a bad idea (to which we already have evidence). The last thing I want people to think is I’m demanding they lose their livelihood, but when the mayor accuses actual doctors of that, I figured I better be as clear as I can.

We are entirely capable of supporting livelihoods without sacrificing lives, and whether our government chooses to do the former has nothing to do with doctors attempting to prevent the latter.

In case you missed it, the UCP can lose a billion dollars the way you can misplace a sock, and yet Alberta churns on anyway. We have more than enough resources to support livelihoods through this. We just don’t.

But what we can’t do, tired or not, is act like coronavirus is gone. Vaccine or no vaccine, we still have a ways to go, and our own fatigue – from the legislature to our homes – is causing us to jump the gun. Again.

Yes, in Medicine Hat, cases have been consistently lower than other centres, and I get why people might feel “punished” by it. But the “regional approach” we’ve seen pushed by Clugston, as well as Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes, is not an option, as per the repeated words of Alberta Health.

Requesting the impossible over and over isn’t advocacy, it’s ignorance.

For whatever reason, we are surrounded by leaders who think getting mad at reality makes a difference. It doesn’t. If Clugston cares about livelihoods so much, he should be hounding his local MLAs and the premier for relief, not pushing the idea that doctors dislike your bank account.

Doctors are responsible for keeping people alive, and it’s their job to tell the government when lives are in danger. They literally take an oath to put your safety ahead of their own. Elected officials also take an oath, and part of that is a promise to protect livelihoods – especially when those are in jeopardy.

The City of Medicine Hat doesn’t have access to the resources required to protect your finances during a health crisis, but you better believe its mayor knows who does. Instead of asking doctors to violate their oath, maybe Clugston could ask the provincial government to live up to theirs.

Either way, COVID doesn’t care. So we probably should.