By Andrew Wadden
It has been approximately three months since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 to be a global pandemic.
In that time our province and the rest of the world have faced perhaps the greatest challenge of our times. But while we have witnessed devastating impacts and loss across the world and in other parts of Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador has successfully minimized risk to the point that as I write this, there are few active cases.
This is not to minimize the loss we have had, as the loss of even just one person is heartbreaking to say the least.
Premier Dwight Ball, Health Minister Dr. John Haggie, and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, and Dr. Proton Rahman (amongst other critical players) deserve our praise and appreciation for a steadfast commitment to the best interest of the public health.
This is not lip service. They are truly deserving of our admiration for their work.
Now is the time we must show the same commitment and work in relation to our economy.
2020 has not been kind to our province. The one-two punch of the state of emergency snowfall and COVID-19 has left many in the business community, large and small alike staggered, and some are now beaten.
Can we further discuss the approach to re-opening the economy?
Surely there is merit to implementing an approach which could reflect the health success that we have had to this point, not the restrictive measures that have been formerly imposed.
Newfoundland and Labrador has the opportunity to create a roadmap to recovery for the rest of the country by lifting restrictions on businesses and unleashing the power of free enterprise. This is not only something that business needs, but it is also needed by the province’s balance sheet, as with declined revenues we are expecting a larger deficit for Newfoundland and Labrador. I’d like to see more conversation around how this can be done faster while respecting that we do not want to unleash the virus.
We hope to soon move to alert Level 3, which is still largely restrictive. The business community needs further communication as to why that is. We need to be further informed as to why we are falling behind the rest of the country in reopening the economy when we are among the leaders in public health prevention and recovery. I appreciate that all which works in one province may not work for another, but let’s at least keep examining it.
It is not lost on me that asking questions can sometimes lead to an automatic vilification of the questioner.
But I am simply trying to keep the discussion going. Further I appreciate the paradox which suggests that overall health gains can lead to a misperception of benefits of preventive advice.
If we keep our discussion about reopening more quickly under light of health and weighing the risk of doing so against the long-term economic and social damage being inflicted each day under imposed restrictions, we are taking a reasonable and informed approach. Surely it is possible that economic reopening and keeping our numbers low with hospitals not overrun, do not have to be mutually exclusive goals.
Haggie has indicated that there is no playbook for this pandemic, and he is correct.
This is a fluid and tough situation.
We understand the dangers of COVID-19 and that we are not immune to a threat that is still very present in this world, but it has largely been eradicated in this province. I am not suggesting stopping testing or distancing, or to open our provincial borders for all manner of unregulated travel. I’m suggesting that government promptly begins looking at this issue with a wider economic lens as well as a public health lens and know that those interests can be balanced.
Significant revenue is being lost.
Just this week some prominent businesses have closed. Waiting longer for a vaccine or for an arbitrary date to pass while we are successfully eradicating the virus and quarantining remaining cases is difficult to take. Whether it is a new world that we return to or the one that we are more familiar with, let’s move away from the amplified risk aversion and start talking about getting back to business with a balanced risk approach.
Restrictive health measures of course have an impact that reaches beyond business as well, which are too severe not to at least mention. Domestic violence is being given a sickening opportunity to worsen with many people at home more. The unaccounted deaths and lack of diagnoses caused by locking down the non-COVID parts of our healthcare system could be very destructive.
I am not a physician, but it seems logical that thousands of appointments missed or unavailable and surgeries cancelled or postponed must lead to worse outcomes. Keeping a generation of young people from practicing everything from social skills to math problems may be impacting their overall development. How can this lost time be made up? Is that discussion happening? Each of these matters deserve robust discussions in and of themselves, with urgency.
In the event there are no drastic changes in the number of cases within our province as of June 8, can we get to alert Level 2 sooner?
Let’s talk about it.
That would be a serious step in reopening our economy and is arguably justifiable given the extraordinary job that our province has done in combating COVID-19. If it means we all wear masks wherever we go for the foreseeable future, then so be it. Whatever else is needed to do it safely, we can handle it.
It’s time to turn the energy used to combat the health crisis to also combating the economic crisis and get our economy back on track.
Let’s tackle this issue with the same vigour and urgency. We have a big problem, which needs big and expedient solutions. Like our measures to combat COVID-19, there will be difficult choices, but they must be made for the long-term good of all our residents. The longer we wait to open the harder it will be to recover.
The costs are high, and they are not just financial. As chair of the Board of Trade, I have had the privilege in taking part in many meetings and conversations these last few months with the province. We always discuss reopening and recovery, amongst other matters.
Those discussions can be part of the public discourse, too.
COVID-19 will remain for the foreseeable future. We must learn to live capably with it. Let’s keep the bubbles expanding and keep our businesses and people safe and growing.
Andrew Wadden is the 2020 Chair of the St. John’s Board of Trade, and a partner with Wadden Peddigrew Hogan Law.
