Monday, July 13, 2020

Four Months

I think this is officially the longest I've gone without posting here.

March and April were surreal months.  The day that the WHO declared COVID a pandemic, I went to work like normal, rounded with my trainees, and went to yoga.  The following day, my city started going into lock down.  My clinics were shut down, and except in the most extreme of cases I could only do patient visits over the phone.  Schools and non-essential businesses closed.  My world shrunk down to my apartment, my cats, and my computer.

I wish I could say that I handled things better than I did.  I would like to tell you about the books I read, the fabulous sourdough I baked, and the superfit body I gained through turning my bedroom into a home gym.  But I can't.  What I can tell you about is cheese.  Because for a solid month and a half, my main activity was eating ridiculous amounts of cheese.

I had a lot of time off of work in April, because I was supposed to be in the UK at a conference and on vacation, and instead I spent most of that time on my couch eating.  Partly it was my way of resting after a really busy start to the year, but mostly it was my way of grappling with (or trying to avoid grappling with) the complete upheaval of everything I had previously considered to be stable.  I struggle with uncertainty at the best of times, and I really didn't know how to cope with *waves hands at everything*.  So I avoided, and I numbed as best as I could.

I almost started this next paragraph with "We were really lucky", but I won't, because what has happened in my province and in my country hasn't been a matter of luck:  it's been leadership.  Both federally and provincially, the government has acknowledged the seriousness of COVID and taken steps to protect its citizens.  And as a result, we've been really fortunate to mostly contain COVID.  Even though we're slowly reopening across the country, our numbers have fallen to just over 200 cases a day - for the whole country.

Four months after the start of lock down, life is starting to go somewhat back to normal.  I'm eating less cheese.  And things that were tenuous and uncertain are slowly settling, albeit not as much as they were pre-COVID.  I am so, so grateful to live in the country that I do.

For all of my American friends, I am so, so sorry.

20 comments:

  1. I am so glad you posted! I have been wondering how you have been coping up there while in the health field. I am glad to hear you are doing better than we are. The giant Cheeto in the White House has royally screwed us over down here. We appreciate your sympathy and support - but seriously, can we all move in with you until this is over? :) :)

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    1. My one bedroom with two cats is a little crowded, but you're welcome if you don't mind sleeping on the couch!

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    2. Hmmm...tempting! I'll check back in with you in November :) LOL!

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  2. We are so so sorry too!!!!!!!! Glad to see how things could have been with proper leadership and grown-up behavior.

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  3. I commented earlier, but I think blogspot is doing that thing where it ignores any comments I make using my phone again. Basically I said what that first commenter said-- I'm glad to hear from you and glad that you're well!

    I live in a non-densely populated area (a rural Southern town with the students gone) and our Covid rates have been extremely high because everything has been open and there's been no mask orders. When we do have regulation, you can see the curve flattening 2 weeks later and when it is taken away, you can see the curve spike right back up two weeks out. Policy matters.

    For more on Covid and policy, the world's greatest political economists are all getting together virtually this week and you can watch some of their talks here: https://www.youtube.com/c/NBERvideos/videos

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  4. Glad you are reasonably well. Down here, in the Land of Stupid, things are a bit crazy. I am in a rural area near the northern border so not much change here, but we are being careful. I keep walking, but it isn't enough. I have gained 15 pounds, but didn't realize it until the weather warmed up enough to put on summer pants. I was shocked and then depressed, but I haven't given up. Meanwhile, people down south are getting sicker and dying and there isn't much I can do for them.

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  5. So, apparently, Toronto is the most densely-populated city in Canada, and it is apparently most similar in size to the U.S. city Boston.

    Toronto Covid Stats through July 9, 2020:
    Total Infected: 14,777
    Total Deaths: 1,117
    Total Recovered: 13,028

    Boston Covid Stats through July 9, 2020:
    Total Infected: 13,650
    Total Deaths: 713
    Total Recovered: 9,666

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    1. Sure, if you cherry pick you can find examples that make Canada look bad, but that doesn't change the fact that Canada's rates (including in our large cities) are plummeting, while rates are soaring in the US.

      Why not compare Toronto to Philadelphia, which has a similar population density?

      Philadelphia (1.6 million people compared to 2.9 million in Toronto): 27,723 infected and 1,637 deaths.

      Oh...because it doesn't prove your point.

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    2. The entire nation of Canada : 110k cases, 8800 deaths
      The state of Mass. : 111k cases, 8300 deaths

      Canada's population is 5x that of MA.

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  6. Stay with me, Jim, as I explain this for you, and--tragically--the doctor authoring this blog, in the barest-bones way possible.

    The population density of Canada is 11 people per square mile.

    The population density of Massachusetts is 885 people per square mile.

    Infectious diseases that spread from person to person don't spread well when there are, like, no PEOPLE to spread to. (Trees and moose don't count in this case.)

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    1. If you're going to come on my blog and challenge people, at least have the courage to post your name.

      The overall population density of Canada is meaningless, because we're a vast country in which most of the population is clustered close to the border.

      Your comments just go to show that statistics can be manipulated to try to prove any point. I still stand by my point that Canada has done a vastly better job of protecting its citizens than the US (recognizing that neither is a monolith and there are regions in both countries that have done better and worse than others).

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  7. Honestly, I'd just delete anonymous. He doesn't seem worth anybody's time.

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    1. Yeah...I've deleted most of their comments now. I don't understand how people can be such extraordinary assholes.

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    2. In this particular case, I suspect a very high level of Dunning-Kruger.

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  8. I'm in Florida so. Yeah. We totally suck. Thanks for the condolences ;)

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  9. I'm glad to hear you're doing okay! I'm down in Texas, and while our local city leaders have done a pretty good job, it's an uphill battle when there's nothing but incompetence and gross negligence at the state and federal level. Le sigh. I wistfully daydream about what it must be like to not be in the middle of a shitstorm, but alas, here I am!

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    1. It could be worse though-- at least Abbot isn't preventing localities from having mask orders like Georgia...

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  10. So glad to hear you survived (though not surprised given... well, you know)! One of the bright spots of the pandemic was that my husband learned he could buy massive wheels of amazing cheese and whole prosciutto from eBay (and olive oil, and Italian cookies, and pasta). So delicious! I'm glad for you in Canada, and very sad for us.

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    1. I'm glad we all got to slow down enough to try some new cheeses or whatever your cheese substitute is💓 That's a silver lining of covid

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