Country to the north

I called an old Canadian friend of mine who lives on Prince Edward Island. It is an island province covering a small territory and possessing anything but a dense population. It has no large cities. In our conversation, he told me that he and his wife were sheltering-in-place, which prompted me to ask him how many cases of Covid-19 have been reported on the island. He said two so far. What I drew from his answer is that the province (and I’m sure much the same measures are in effect across Canada), thanks to their leaders, and Prime Minister Trudeau in the first place, are determined to take the necessary and preemptive measures to slow down and, as soon as possible, flatten out the growth curve of the virus’s spread.

I also couldn’t help but contrast the seriousness of purpose that frames the Canadian response with the flatfooted, inept, callous, and irresponsible response by Trump and his administration. By his actions and inactions,Trump has thrown us into harm’s way, despite the heroic efforts of governors, mayors, health care experts and providers, first responders, public sector workers, and many others.