The fact that we're in the midst of a 
preventable pandemic has me quite 
disappointed. 

After the SARS epidemic of 2003, I 
thought that there were two main 
lessons to be learned. And if I was 
aware of these lessons, governmental 
authorities should have been as well. 
Epidemic diseases are not my area of 
specialization.

The first lesson involved the handling 
of small livestock in Chinese markets. 
It seemed clear after the SARS 
outbreak that stacking animals in 
cages, one atop another, offered a 
dangerous breeding ground for 
pathogens and a route to inter-species 
transmission. Urine, feces, and 
whatever else fell from the upper 
cages onto the animals beneath. I 
won't even comment on the humanity of 
that arrangement. But it was fertile 
ground for the passage of pathogens 
from one animal to another, and then 
to the humans who worked with them. I 
thought it was clear that those 
practices had to change.

Apparently, the Chinese government was 
also aware that it was even worse to 
permit the intermixing of wild and 
domestic animals in these stacked-cage 
scenarios, but after a brief 
prohibition, permitted a resumption of 
the wildlife trade.[1]

Secondly, it seemed clear after the 
SARS outbreak that employment 
practices here in Canada were also 
a big part of the problem. 
Underemployed medical staff working 
part-time and casual jobs at multiple 
locations served as vectors for the 
transmission of SARS from one facility 
to another. I wondered if anything was 
being done to address that practice in 
the years afterward. Apparently, if 
anything was done, it was not enough. 
Staff working at multiple locations 
are once again carrying pathogens from 
one facility to another.[2] That's 
something that should have been 
addressed through administrative 
employment practices or collective 
bargaining.

I guess there's one more issue that's 
irritating me. The Chinese government 
covered up the SARS epidemic for 
several months. Commentators at the 
time wondered whether that was partly 
because of a shaky transition of power 
from Jiang Zemin to Hu Jintao
(succession in the CCP has long been 
problematic, and admitting to a major 
problem so soon after taking power 
could provide rivals with an edge). 

But this time, there were once again 
efforts to cover up the initial 
outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic. 
In 2020, Xi Jinping is firmly in 
power, holding the titles of 
President, Chairman of the Central 
Military Commission, and General 
Secretary of the Communist Party. So I 
guess covering up perceived failures 
is just endemic in China's 
party-government apparatus.

I have no great political statement to 
make at the end of this phlog. It's 
just disappointing that such easy 
lessons were not learned and such 
obvious remedies were not applied.

/rant

Oh, and a shout out to dgold at the 
Grey Area phlog. Glad the e-reader is 
serving you well.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPpoJGYlW54

[2] https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2020HLTH0077-000484