Andru McCracken, Editor
Is there just an itty bitty chance that you are tired of getting bad news from the sweetly monotonous, ultra polite Dr. Bonnie Henry? You know the one”¦ our provincial health officer. She tells us what we’re going to give up next.
I was on board at the beginning with the Henry show”¦ but this show is too long.
It needs some pizzazz.
Where could we find the material to make Henry’s depressing passive aggressive entreaties more engaging and more moving and, critically, more effective?
That Henry’s points get home, that the vast majority of us feel compelled to wear masks, to socially distance and make sacrifices for the benefit of the many… we need continuous powerful motivations to do so.
Let’s face it. People who know far, far less than Henry are daily crafting far more enticing and persuasive stories about this pandemic”¦and as people’s mental health fails, these stories become more and more compelling. These stories of a world-wide ring that only the indoctrinated can see, are powerful and especially disruptive at this time.
Where can we find the drama that would continue to hold our interest in the real and the necessary?
This evening I got a call from my father. He was on his way to my stepmom’s care facility. She’s suffering from Alzheimer’s and was brought to a care facility mid-pandemic because her care became too complex for my dad, the family and 2 care aides assigned her.
He received the news five minutes before reaching her door for their daily visit: Her floor is on lockdown.
For two days for sure, he can no longer visit his wife of over 30 years. What it means longer term, he won’t know until the residents are tested. What it means for my stepmom is, more than ever, unclear.
What we need in the face of these horrible privations that rip families apart is simple: radical transparency.
Almost everyday we’re given the same grim prescription. Bad news, new lockdowns. But we need more than the rules.
It’s time for us to see the discussion that is taking place at Dr. Bonnie Henry’s briefing table. As she announces the shut downs to business, new regulation and rules… we need to see the decisions that lead up to that. We need to know that the concerns that we live with are heard and are part of the discussion before the briefing.
The answer is, of course, a reality TV show.
I’d like to see a reality television show about how provincial COVID-19 decisions are being made. I want to hear the voices speaking up at Henry’s table for the elderly and lonely and people on the edge and I want to see how those voices are weighted and considered next to the concerns of epidemiologists. A brutal transparency for a brutal time.
Will it be interesting? If reality TV can get me to sit through commercials waiting for the conclusion to Highway Thru Hell, you know it will be.
I am in no way undermining the decisions being made. Knowing how they are made, though, remains critical.
Would you like to see how decisions are made during the pandemic? Write us – [email protected] or Box 21 Valemount, V0E 2Z0 – and let us know.
