3 Weeks and Still no relief
So it’s been 3 very long weeks since we all went into lock down and were basically ordered to shelter in place. It was supposed to only last a few weeks. The virus wasn’t supposed to be here yet. This was supposed to save us. Now, the Ontario Government has released their prediction models and we could be in this for up to 2 years. What the hell are we supposed to do for the next 2 years? We can’t all just stay at home and not work. Our world would plummet into such a severe depression it would make the last one look like a Caribbean Cruise with all expenses paid for.
What happened? Who is to blame? Is there even anyone to blame? Was this just one of those unfortunate history making events? I do not think so. I blame the Chinese Government for lying, I blame the World Health Organization for believing the lies and for not hitting the big red panic button sooner. I blame Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Government for not implementing strict border controls from the outset. Taiwan did, almost as soon as word got out that there was an outbreak in China. Taiwan implemented strict border controls on all aircraft and vessels arriving from China. To date they have 363 cases of COVID-19 and 5 deaths.
Canada did not implement strict border controls, we have over 15,000 cases and almost 300 dead. We are currently increasing the amount of infected persons by over 1,000 per day. Quebec alone had 950 new cases today. The United States did not implement strict border controls for vessels and aircraft arriving from China. They have over 300,000 cases of COVID-19 and approaching 10,000 dead.
The Ship Sailed
Seems like our so called leaders missed the boat on this one. Perhaps they were ill-advised. Perhaps the blame lies in the blind trust that was given to the World Health Organization. I mean they know what they are doing right? These are supposed to be the experts at this sort of thing. They wouldn’t screw up a global pandemic.
Alas the WHO does not have a stellar record of success. It’s first tests of the 21st century was SARS, MERS and H1N1. All these viruses were handled and none of them reached pandemic or even epidemic levels. The WHO barely had to lift a finger as the countries affected were developed and had the means to respond. For H1N1 the WHO hit the big red panic button and called the world to action. However, it was less severe than the seasonal flu that is seen every year.
The First test
In 2014 the World Health Organization (WHO) faced a it’s first true challenge of the 21st Century. In December of 2013 Medicine Sans Frontier (MSF) reported several cases of Ebola in the Congo and warned of an impending Outbreak. The WHO downplayed the reports citing that the area was not the usual one where outbreaks occur.
By the end of the first quarter of 2014, MSF and other Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) were neck deep into an outbreak and pleading for Help. It wasn’t until April 2014 that the WHO declared and outbreak and began, albeit slowly, to mobilize.
Things progressed very slowly. It wasn’t until Jul of 2014 that the Director General of the WHO Margaret Chaw told senior staff that
Transportation, PPE and other equipment must be provided
https://world.wng.org/2015/09/who_perfects_conference_calls_bungles_epidemic_response
Months later the supplies had yet to arrive in any sufficient numbers. It was reported in fact that instead of wearing proper heavy duty foot wear. Front Line staff were using stray plastic packaging and suffering using ill-fitting gloves. In fact it was so bad that there are reports of staff deserting.
Missionaries Save the Day
Instead of the WHO taking the lead and properly handling this situation it was NGOs and Missionaries who took the lead. Missionaries even offered to share valuable Disinfecting agents with the WHO. The offer was declined, in favor of using Local Government Stockpiles. Unfortunately these stockpiles were mismanaged and tampered with.
Broken seals on containers and illegible expiry dates were the norm. The disorganization and failures from the WHO were so bad that front line workers used their own money to purchase PPE. In one case a hospital needed a generator fixed, the WHO’s man in charge, one Jacob Mufunda, ignored their pleas. Instead they fund raised themselves for the repairs.
It was the NGO’s and Missionaires that are the true heroes of this outbreak. Eventually reaching their breaking point, they were finally given relief when Western Countries sent in their Military Medical Personal. Lead by the US and Canada.
In fact it became so bad that NGOs and Government Health Agencies began planning their responses without factoring in or even consulting the WHO.
The Second Test
The Ebola outbreak was not even over yet when another outbreak occurred in Africa. Reports of a yellow fever out break in the Congo and Angola began to surface.
The WHO Eventually responded, promising to do better then with the Ebola Outbreak. They said they had learnt their lessons and had implemented changes. The reality couldn’t have been more wrong.
At the outset it was determined that 40 million vaccines would be needed to curb the outbreak. The WHO managed to find 18 million. They even lost 1 million vaccines. Out of a shipment of over 5 million vaccines sent to Angola, 1 million just dissapeared, no investigation was ever done and the Angolan Government was never held accountable.
Broken Promises
Even though the WHO said they had learnt from their mistakes the truth was much different. The Yellow Fever Outbreak was bogged down with the same bureaucratic read tape and mismanagement that plagued the Ebola Outbreak,
The International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) stated that the WHO management of the outbreak was just a repeat of the Ebola Crisis. In another sign of mismanagement and improper set up of the supply chain. The main Lab responsible for testing for Yellow Fever was shutdown for several weeks due to a lack of material. Even though the WHO said the supplies were on route they never materialized. Instead they were bogged down and bounced from shipper to shipper.
How Can we Trust a Broken Agency
How can we trust an agency to manage a world wide pandemic that has infected over 1 million and killed almost 100,00 people to date. When they can’t even manage a regional outbreak of something like Yellow Fever that has a vaccine. Even an Ebola outbreak can be properly handled. Yet the international agency that supposed to help us failed twice already.
In my opinion as well, they have utterly failed us all. They told us there was no danger of the Wuhan Virus spreading. They said it was contained to one province in China. They advocated against travel restrictions. Now we know they were terribly wrong. Was it incompetence or complacency we may never know. Never again should we rely on the WHO to protect us.
They can’t even release proper number with regards to infection and death rates. The numbers are collected as of 10am GMT +1, but aren’t released for over 12 more hours. Instead we must rely on Universities and other agencies to provide us up to date information. The WHO has failed, in fact I would argue the United Nations in it’s entirety has failed. We have some hard times and some hard decisions ahead. One of which should the be abolishment of the United Nations. We need something else something with teeth so the atrocities of Rwanda and ISIS never happen again.