Wednesday Morning Links

Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.

- Thomas Bollyky et al. examine the factors which have led to reducing the spread COVID-19 and resulting harm - with trust in fellow citizens and government ranking at the top of the list in improving vaccination rates and limiting transmission. And Wei-Bi Shen et al. study the neurological effects of COVID, including creating an Alzheimers-like effect on brain function. 

- Meanwhile, Blake Murdoch points out the folly of pretending that letting the Omicron variant run wild would somehow represent the end of the pandemic, rather than another wave of avoidable harm. Laura Sciarpelletti reports on the pleas from Saskatchewan's health care workers not to scrap the vaccine mandate and other (already insufficient) measures which are somewhat containing the damage for now. And Jacob Stern and Katherine Wu discuss the meaninglessness of declaring COVID "endemic" when that can still mean immense ongoing harm. 

- Crawford Kilian maps out how the #FluTruxKlan wants to drive Canada into Trumpist territory, while Aaron Wherry notes that the Cons don't seem to care at all about the end goal as long as it provides an excuse to foment anger in the short term. Emily Leedham exposes the convoy's connections to anti-worker violence in the course of the Co-Op refinery lockout. And John Michael McGrath recognizes the need to highlight the work of the people making every effort to control the pandemic, rather than focusing solely on the destructive few determined to exacerbate it. 

- Finally, the Canadian Press reports on the NDP's push toward decriminalizing drug use in order to contain the damage from another public health crisis.