Ignoring 2 of 3 Pandemic Goals

Auditor General fails to discuss economic & societal harms.

From page 34 of the report. Click the image to read the whole thing.

Yesterday I mentioned an Auditor General’s report recently released in New Brunswick. It says public health officials refuse to explain their pandemic decisions. That report is a disheartening read for other reasons. On page 34 (page 52 of the PDF), we’re advised the provincial pandemic plan had three components:

1. minimize and prevent serious illness and overall deaths

2. minimize societal impacts

3. minimize economic disruptions

That, my friends, is the first and last time #2 and #3 are mentioned. Societal and economic disruption don’t get their own chapter, their own page, or even their own paragraph. They receive no attention whatsoever. How odd.

So here’s what the report does tell us:

• targets were set by more than one branch of government, but no monitoring occurred to determine if those targets were being met (p. 36/54 and p. 41/60)

• 136 nurses responded to a call for additional personnel, but for reasons unknown only 27 were deployed (p. 44/63)

• citizens could apply under a “compassionate travel” policy, but the office of the Chief Medical Officer had no clear criteria (p. 45/64)

• out of 25 sample cases examined by the Auditor General, no reasons were supplied for 36% of these compassionate travel rulings. Which makes it’s impossible to assess whether people were treated consistently and fairly (p. 45/64)

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• the Pandemic Task Force apparently kept no minutes of its meetings, so how it arrived at its decisions is a mystery (p. 46/65)

• the Task Force could produce “no records or supporting documentation” to back up three of the memos it issued

• in the judgment of the Auditor General, the Task Force was able to produce sufficient evidence or expert opinion in 31 other instances

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• between March 2020 and July 2021, 3.1 million vehicles were stopped at the New Brunswick border. 2.5% of these (78,000 vehicles) were refused entry/exit (p. 59/80)

• border screening measures were temporarily relaxed on an unknown number of occasions after wait times were judged to be excessive (p. 62/83)

• people not only had to show proof of vaccination at the border, they had to produce documents such as child custody agreements (p. 63/84)

Millions had their mobility rights impeded - in one province alone. Over a virus that turned out to be about as deadly as the flu.

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• New Brunswick paid the Canadian Red Cross $5.4 million to administer quarantine hotels (p. 64/85)

• additional funds were spent on “security and enforcement services” connected to these hotels, but that cost is unknown

• 1,468 travelers stayed in designated hotels “to complete their isolation period”

• “nine of the isolated guests tested positive for COVID-19”

The Auditor General doesn’t include the relevant math in his report, so we have to do it ourselves. $5.4 million divided by 1,468 equals $3,678 per person (before security costs).

Nearly 1,500 people were profoundly inconvenienced by the government of New Brunswick. Millions of tax dollars were spent. In order to prevent a grand total of nine people with a positive test from circulating in the community.

The Auditor General fails to comment on whether any of this was a wise use of tax dollars. But he admits the Department of Justice and Public Safety “does not know whether or not” the hotel quarantine program reduced COVID cases overall or discouraged people from traveling (p.64/85).

Here’s one last finding from the report:

• the website of New Brunswick’s Emergency Measures Organization (NEMBO) “is not kept up to date” and “does not provide citizens with accurate information” (p. 66/88)

There’s no indication that anyone in the New Brunswick government will pay any price for any of the above-listed shortcomings. When government employees mess up, shoulders get shrugged and life goes on. Meanwhile, more than 400 New Brunswick residents were fined over $117,000 for breaking COVID rules.

Click image to read full article.

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