ottawa — on dec. 30, 2019, before it had a name, before it was a pandemic, what became covid-19 was an urgent notice from the wuhan municipal health committee about an “unexplained pneumonia.”
“unexplained pneumonia” is how sars was first described and when, not if, humanity faces an influenza pandemic, it will likely show up in clinics and hospitals with pneumonia patients who have no obvious cause.
the public health agency of canada (phac) was created after sars in an effort to ensure canada wouldn’t be caught off guard by unexplained pneumonias or other disease threats. it was designed to be canada’s eyes looking for the next plague, while also preparing for its inevitability.
internal and external audits, along with interviews with experts and insiders, reveal that when it came to surveillance, data collection and emergency preparedness, the federal government — across both liberal and conservative governments — was repeatedly warned the agency wasn’t living up to expectations.
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canada had a lower death rate than many developed countries, including the u.s., britain and several european countries, but was still much higher than world leaders like japan, australia and new zealand.
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data collection during sars was so weak that canada struggled to meet international commitments to the world health organization . naylor’s report after sars called for more data sharing, but it wasn’t the first time the problem was identified.
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in the u.s., the centers for disease control and prevention doesn’t mandate that state governments share data, but they offer funding for those that do. naylor said that is one way the government could finally address the problem.
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political staff told the national post that early on in the pandemic, bureaucrats at phac made it clear the stockpile couldn’t fill all the demands being placed on it.
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