To the editor;
Now a month into this crisis, I have been impressed with our leadership. Standing out initially are Drs. Theresa Tam and Bonnie Henry, chief medical officers who have been calm and instructive. The administrations of the five senior levels of government that I have seen enough of to evaluate have been consistent and innovative, even those who I have issues with personally, politically, policy-wise and ideologically. There have been positive contributions from all opposition parties I have been impressed by local leadership in places as varied as Vancouver and Barriere, as well as innovators, from an eighteen year old in his basement to a Nobel Prize winner, businesses large and small, and the cooperation of the largest percentage of the population.
But I have now noticed the beginnings of some second-guessing going on variously driven by partisan ideology, frustrated anxiety, conspiracy theories and the press seeking the “gotcha” moment. This Covid -19 crisis is an unprecedented (never before, in our lifetimes), emergent (sometimes changing by the day) event, with our leadership, of all kinds, flying blind through a complex maze of contradictory policy options and choices with unknown outcomes, against an invisible enemy we know little about, with little time to evaluate decisions. This is no time to be discussing “coulda, woulda, shoulda” There will be mistakes made, if not already, but we have the pilots we have – at this time, for this journey.
So the time to evaluate the crisis and the decisions that have been made in the midst of this crisis is not now. That time comes after we get through this, when we will have time to evaluate and criticize at leisure, and for decades hence. That does not mean that questions ought not to be asked. But they should be for clarification of where we are and where we are going, and for the sake of the improvement of policies already made and those going forward. It is too late to ask why the tank of gas was left unfilled after we have run out of gas. We need to solve the immediate problem. How we got here can be left for later.
Glenn Andrews
Barriere, B.C.
