It seems like every city and region has a fearmongering doctor who is a media go-to person for all things COVID-19. Especially when they want somebody who will consistently talk about all the worst possible outcomes of the virus and how we must violate individual rights in order to keep infections down..In Alberta, that doctor is a fellow named Joseph Vipond..Throughout the pandemic, it has been difficult to turn on the TV and not see Vipond on the screen offering dire warnings and criticizing the government for their heartless and dangerous actions. Vipond has a flair for the dramatic. He even broke down in tears during an interview as he feared for the fate of children due to what he felt were terrible moves by Premier Kenney to lift pandemic restrictions..Vipond always wants you to know he’s a doctor. He wears his scrubs everywhere and often has his stethoscope hanging around his neck when he does his many media appearances around the province. One place few people have actually seen him is in medical facilities practicing his trade. It’s hard to imagine he has much time to treat patients when he is flying across the globe during the Omicron outbreak in order to attend climate change conferences or holding pro-lockdown rallies around the province..Dr. Vipond is not a doctor who happens to be a political activist. He is a political activist who happens to be a doctor..It speaks volumes about the agenda of legacy media outlets when they continued to go to Vipond as an expert on pandemic policies even after it was revealed he had donated nearly $20,000 to Rachel Notley’s NDP..Certainly, Vipond has every right to support and take part in a political party. Let’s not pretend he can be considered a balanced source when it comes to discussions on government policies though. I have since referred to him as Notley’s pet doctor and will continue to do so..CTV still refers to him as a medical expert on COVID-19 policies..Dr. Vipond has found himself in the soup again and the hypocrisy is breathtaking..Vipond recently travelled to Ottawa for some reason or another. Never one to pass up on an opportunity to virtue signal, he posted a picture of the travel kit he is taking in order to ensure he protects himself and others from the dread virus..He showed the air purifier he takes with him, spoke on how he demands all near him to be masked, how he cracks windows and always wears his respirator mask while indoors. Oh, and he wears goggles. Everywhere. Even in his twitter profile though there is no evidence goggles stop any form of COVID transmission.. Vipond2 .Well, to Dr. Vipond’s horror, he tested positive for COVID-19 during one of his constant self-tests. Vipond shared his test results and the subsequent ones with others online as he did multiple tests to ensure he was indeed infected.. Vipond1 .Many of Vipond’s loyal followers offered sympathy and thoughts and prayers for the dear doctor and his plight. So what did Dr. Vipond do next?.Well, he went out and toured Parliament Hill. Not only did he go out and potentially expose others to his infection, he took a video of himself while he did it and shared it on Twitter. Vipond realized his error and deleted the video, but it was of course too late.. ParliamentHill1 .This is the guy who supported locking people in hotel rooms for weeks for having dared enter our country even if they didn’t test positive. He has lectured us for years on how deadly COVID-19 is and how we must never put others at risk of infection..As if sharing his infected tour of Parliament Hill wasn’t all bad enough, Vipond began tweeting he’s driving across Canada to get home in a rental car. Not content with potentially spreading COVID-19 in Ottawa, Vipond wants to see if he can spread his infection through four provinces. Vipond is assuring people on Twitter he can’t spread any disease because he will stay in the car and eat granola bars..You just can’t make this stuff up..Vipond will somehow manage to refuel, use the washrooms and sleep without having come into any contact with people for the next few days. He has also been claiming he checked with Ontario health authorities and he is staying within their guidelines..Vipond is either lying, or he didn’t understand what he read though the Ontario health requirements are pretty clear. They say a person MUST remain in isolation for five days if they have tested positive. Not should, but MUST. Not for a few days but five.. Ontariorules .The meaning of isolation could be considered open to some degree of interpretation, but I suspect cross-country road trips don’t fall under that definition..Is COVID-19 a deadly disease that allows for no flexibility in avoiding isolation? If that’s the case, Vipond is knowingly putting people at risk of death as he chooses to travel across the country..Or, does Vipond actually understand COVID-19 really isn’t relatively dangerous and restrictions do little to keep people safe? That would mean Vipond has been feeding us all politically motivated BS for the last couple years..In either case, Dr. Vipond has lost all credibility. He can’t and won’t walk his own talk and he isn’t to be taken seriously..Will our legacy media outlets stop giving this activist public oxygen on the airwaves though?.I doubt it..I suspect I will see his masked, goggled, stethoscope wearing visage on the TV screen in his scrubs sooner rather than later because he offers the messaging the mainstream media wants us to hear..Cory Morgan is Opinion & Broadcast Editor for the Western Standard.cmorgan@westernstandardonline.com
