Thank-You!

[Parsad]

To all of the first line personnel (doctors, nurses, administrators, researchers, health workers, cleaning staff, etc) who are dealing with Covid-19, it's patients, treatments, research, etc, and making sure the general public exposure is reduced...thank-you!  Especially those of you on this message board who are busy helping others...our deepest thanks!

 

I couldn't help but think of the movie "The Day The Earth Stood Still", when humankind had no choice but to accept peace, while they dealt with an alien threat.  Watching how quarantined patients in Italy are singing, and the world is forming a coalition on how to deal with Covid-19...well it took a global contagion to bring the world together.

 

As the world goes through this, I wish you all well!  It will be the first time in 15 years that I miss the Fairfax AGM and our annual dinner is now cancelled for the first time.  I hope to see many of you this time next year, when this becomes history, and we talk about it like we did about the Financial Crisis or the Tech Wreck.

 

All the best,

 

Sanjeev...Cheers!

[drzola]

I am Citating Seth Godin's Blog release this early Am as very relevant to this current topic I think!

 

Public Health

 

[For members of the public, staying at home and sheltering in place isn’t selfish, it’s generous. Social distancing helps keep the virus from infecting others at the same time that it flattens the curve of the spread of the pandemic, giving health facilities a chance to provide care over time.]

 

Public health is efficient, a culture changer and a commitment. It’s not simply a more expensive version of private health.

 

When the water supply is reliable, the air is clean and the public health system is working well, we hardly notice it. Nutrition, access to healthcare and the safety of transport are easy to take for granted. When we hire the government to be responsible for public health, we give up small amounts of independence and money. But it creates enormous benefits, worth far more than they cost.

 

First, it’s cheaper and more reliable for a few trained engineers to test and maintain the water etc. than it is for each person who consumes it to do so.

 

Second, health, like the weather, is something that people bring up in conversation but rarely do anything about. By centralizing action, we make it more likely that something actually gets done.

 

Third, individual humans are bad at long-term thinking. Patient systems often outperform individual actions when it comes to public health.

 

Often, it’s only coordinated action that can help the entire community. And coordinated action rarely happens without intentional coordination. Don’t do it because you finally got around to it. Don’t do it because it is in your short-term interest. Do it because we all need it done.

 

It’s difficult to overinvest in building and running competent public health systems and management. And sometimes we don’t realize how important the system is until we see how unprepared we are. [Which is why, alas, today is a good day to stay home].

 

Thank you to every public health worker and medical professional who is on the front lines right now. We’re grateful for a lifetime of sacrifices and commitment.

 

 

“If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, “For I seek the truth, by which no one ever was truly harmed. Harmed is the person who continues in his self-deception and ignorance.”  David Epstein/ Malcolm Gladwell

 

Evolution is unforgiving with maladaptive mutations, but it allows imperfection all the time, and the slightest advantage is enough to keep participants in the competition. In the Miocene of Spain, knives were out for the prey, and the predator race went on.

 

Sincerely;  Steve Leach

 

[jeffsreng]

Thank you again. Be safe everyone.