Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Umair Haque highlights how European and North American states have failed to control the coronavirus compared to other developed countries. And Ian Austen discusses the prospect that Canada could get to the COVID-zero state achieved by Australia. 

- And in case there were any doubt about the stakes involved, Inayat Singh, Dave Seglins and Andreas Wesley report on the tens of thousands of workers' compensation claims which need to be added to the immediate costs of COVID-19. Ed Yong describes how U.S. hospitals are doing what planning they can in the face of a wave of COVID cases which will inevitably swamp their capacity, while Bill Kaufman reports on the grim triage options facing Alberta's health care system.  And CBC News reports on a plea from B.C.'s health care workers for people to follow public health recommendations to limit viral spread.

- But sadly, Drew Anderson notes that appeals to personal responsibility have proven utterly useless, especially when paired with a lack of meaningful government action. Gary Mason writes that Jason Kenney's dithering and inaction are exacerbating the toll COVID-19 has taken on Alberta. David Climenhaga highlights the futility of replacing existing half-measures with rebranded half-measures which largely duplicate municipal decisions. Dave Cournoyer examines how the latest Alberta plan appears to have been slapped together to do the bare minimum. And Robbie Kreger-Smith notes that the failures now are almost certain to necessitate cancelling in-person Christmas celebrations a month down the road.

- Finally, Lee Berthiaume reports on the risk that Canada's lack of vaccine production capacity will lead to delays in distribution compared to our peer countries.