The former head of Alberta Emergency Management lashed out at Premier Jason Kenney’s “incoherent and draconian” pandemic plans..In a televised interview on The Western Standard, hosted by Danielle Smith, Monday night, Lt. Col. David Redman laid out a series of measures he said Kenney and Dr. Deena Hinshaw should have taken..In his presentation – already viewed by more than 40,000 people so far – Redman acknowledged pandemics continuously happen..He emphasized the importance of non-pharmaceutical measures for containing the spread of COVID-19, which have fallen on deaf ears from Hinshaw and Alberta’s government..Contract tracing, quarantining exposed individuals, workplace and school closures, screening, internal travel restrictions, and border closures are mostly ineffective in reducing the virus’s spread, he said..Redman said: “The focus on only COVID-19 case counts led to a completely flawed response, trying to deal only with the first pandemic goal – controlling the spread and reducing illness and death – and failing. The Canadian response to COVID-19 has been incoherent and constantly changing, with no publicly shared plan.”.“In February and March, we knew that over 95 per cent of the deaths in China and Europe were seniors, over the age of 60, with multiple co-morbidities [illnesses], notably cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, hypertension and cancer,” he said..“We should have immediately developed options for the protection of concentrations of our seniors over 60 with co-morbidities. Our Long-Term Care homes should have been placed into quarantine for both the residents and the staff..“Over 15,822 of these deaths could have been avoided, as over 73 per cent of the deaths have occurred in long-term care homes. In June 2020, deaths in Canadian long term care facilities from COVID were at 81 per cent of the total, while OECD countries reported an average of 38 per cent of their COVID-related deaths came from long term care facilities.”.Those without pre-existing medical conditions made up 0.9 per cent of COVID-related deaths, he said..As of February 21, in Canada, over 96.1 per cent of our over 21,674 deaths have been in seniors, over the age of 60, with multiple co-morbidities, or 20,829 seniors..For Alberta, 1,724 seniors succumbed to COVID-19, totalling 94.4 per cent of deaths in the province. Seventy-two per cent of deaths were patients with three or more co-morbidities..No Albertans under the age of 19 died from COVID-19 to date..However, these draconian measures cause significant harm in other aspects of society, Redman said. Mitigating societal disruption by ensuring continuity and recovery of critical services and minimizing the adverse economic impact incurred by workers is essential..A sufficient Emergency Management Process would cost taxpayers about $2 billion to quarantine those most at risk and save thousands of lives, he sad, adding it would have also negated the need to lock down business, and spend over $240 billion – $105.66 billion in federal payments to individuals, $118.37 billion to businesses and charities, and $16.18 billion to regional governments and organizations – to force 8 million healthy Canadians to stay at home..“We did not need to follow the failed lockdown practice of China or Europe,” said Redman..“We knew who was most at risk and had time to quarantine our seniors in long-term care homes and to develop plans for those with multiple co-morbidities not in those facilities..“Instead, we sacrificed our seniors.”.While political leaders and doctors continuously tell us we are in danger of overwhelming our medical system, Redman argues had the government implemented a more coherent plan in the first place, COVID-19 would not have challenged our hospital capacities..Today, seniors fill 71 per cent of our hospital beds and 65 per cent of our ICU capacity, which prolong wait times for other medical procedures..“By ignoring these three goals and following a failed lockdown response has caused massive collateral damage in terms of deaths and long-term effects on our populations. Collateral damage, largely ignored by the mainstream media,” said Redman..“The draconian measures in place severely hampered our social fabric, mental health, other severe health conditions, our children’s education and socialization, and our economy.”.Redman recommends the governments release a comprehensive, four-goal-based pandemic plan to protect our most vulnerable and maximize critical infrastructure, not limited to hospitals, for quarantine purposes while ignoring the “fear campaign from the media.”.He implored the government to end all future lockdowns and loosen social distancing rules, with a plan to keep schools and daycares open, get everyone under 60 without pre-existing conditions back to work, and vaccinate for the current COVID-19 strain..Practicing hand hygiene and isolating sick individuals are the most effective measures to reduce the virus’s spread. Surface and object cleaning, face masks, avoiding large crowds, and adhering to travel advice are adequate supplementary measures, he said..Dhaliwal is the Western Standard’s Edmonton reporter
