I’m a statistician, a numbers guy. Put a bunch of numbers in front of me and I’ll start analyzing them. Here are the numbers I have been puzzling over today:
Saskatchewan: number of new cases of COVID – 449 / number of people in hospital due to COVID – 311 / number in ICU – 65
Québec: number of new cases of COVID – 469 / number of people in hospital due to COVID – 321 / number in ICU – 94
The numbers are almost the same, yet the population of Québec is more than seven times greater than the the population of Saskatchewan. That means that COVID is seven times as big a problem in Saskatchewan. Why is that happening?
I think part of the answer appears when we look at the vaccination records. In Québec 73.3% of the population is fully vaccinated (two shots); in Saskatchewan the number is 61.5%. That seems like a pretty significant factor, especially considering that 75% of the infections and 80% of the hospitalizations are unvaccinated people.
Does that mean that the government led by François Legault is doing a much better job of handling the COVID crisis than the government led by Scott Moe? Both government have made vaccines readily available and made it as convenient as possible to find a nearby location to be vaccinated. They have urged people to get vaccinated.
Does it mean then that the folks in Québec are just a wee bit smarter than we are here in Saskatchewan?
I won’t venture an answer to those questions. I have probably stuck my neck out too far already in asking them. What do you think?
Flatlander Faith 
How about Sask folks being a wee bit smarter? I didn’t see that option.
Trying to trip me up with my own dumb question, eh? I’m sure there are lots of ways that we are smarter than Quebeckers. Like, we’ve got to be way more skilled at driving on icy roads. We get to practice all winter long as so little salt is ever used on our streets and highways.
Here in BC the roads are well salted for best possible ‘gription’, however this shows up on your automobile in the form of hydrated iron oxides.
In terms of ‘smarts’, I am just saying that there are usually good strong healthy opinions on whether or not to get immunized and the intrinsic (knee-jerk) reaction amongst the majority of the population is that those that are fully ‘waxxed’ are somehow a wee bit smarter. Your questions did open a ‘can of worms’ and this is a good thing.. Open discussion is valued and this is what is missing in the vaccine debate. It has appeared, since the beginning of this pandemic (which is a very real pandemic, not a hoax), that anything that questions the efficacy or even basic safety of the vaccine is considered misleading and misinformation and is actually shut down or wiped off or cancelled entirely. And those that would question are considered naive, ignorant, and selfish… and likely they are white rural religious folk (from a place just like Saskatchewan!!).. This point alone raises the skeptic within me.
Really quite a case study.
What I’m saying is the shutting down of debate, the forced vaccines around the country, and the open and glorified cancel culture with regards towards any thoughts the unvaccinated may have on the topic is what causes me to raise one eyebrow and go “hmmmm”. Some people will raise both eyebrows and beat the table with a fist and spend the weekend standing on a sidewalk waving placards.. standing up for what they consider ‘trampled-on rights’.
I am truly concerned that the worst effect this pandemic will have on our country is the creation of two classes of people.. as well as division in communities and schools and churches and even homes..
Maybe we need to shut down nearly all COVID discussion and refocus on Thanksgiving and other great ideas.. along with strapping on the skates, dusting off the crokinole board, firing up the espresso machine, and pulling out the songbooks.. (jab or no jab, all get back together with no judgement, however right we might think we are on either side of any debate)..
Oh, and stay home if you’re sick!
There, that’s my little rant for Wednesday morning. What did it do for me?? and do my written thoughts add or snuff out or stir or settle..? what kind of thoughts are worth anything these days?
Keep writing Mr Goodnough, your inspirations are usually thought-provoking and winsome. Thank you for that.
To add.. I feel that the common sense side of the vaccine debate is funded by science and leans sharply toward the vaccine-hesitant crowd. The self righteousness of many on the vaccine side has turned my stomach. Interestingly, that same side sees the same fault in the other.. and struggles with the same indigestion..and throws around the “you are selfish” accusation, without thinking how that sounds and who is actually being incriminated..
(and yes maybe I feel ‘self right’ in my own “bi-partisan” view .. however I have tried to be open-minded and calm about this issue and found that road a path less taken and a very difficult journey as well..)