We are all familiar with the restrictions imposed on Canadian citizens-masks, social (anti) distancing, hand washing, temperature tests, occupancy limits and travel quarantines.  While there is not 100 % cooperation or buy-in, many still follow the general rules and grumble about it.

If we look around the world at the many examples of good and bad situations in different countries, we see total or partial lockdowns, temperature and virus testing in airports and public places and varying degrees of industry specific shut downs.

The United States is experiencing a difficult time, something President Trump is being blamed for, yet individual states have been tasked with specific responses to the crisis.  Other countries and leaders face similar scenarios.

Sweden did not lock down and while they experienced a high rate of infection and death, they now enjoy a far better social and economic future without the riots and social issues that other nations see daily.

No one agrees 100% with strategies to cope with the spread of the virus, however, I would like to tell you about Shanghai and China, a place that Skip Canevit calls home and has done so for 15 years.

I will present this information in his words and use a question and answer format.

Tim:  Tell me how China and Shanghai are coping now with the pandemic?

Skip:  With the exception of sporting events, everything is fully open with no physical distancing required, no masks required except when riding public transportation or if you wear one for pollution. Schools in Shanghai are 100% open and have been for 5 months. This seems to be the case here in Shanghai and I hear the identical situation from my expatriate contemporaries in Tianjin, Wuxi, Guangzhou, Beijing and I’m sure others.

Tim:  In Alberta, our province, like all others, are struggling with physical distancing, sanitizing, masks and instructional ratios.

Skip:  That is not a problem here, even if people from the West don’t belive how China and Tiawan have shut this down the virus it doesn’t change the reality that it is a fact. Here schools are operating normally. The kids wear masks when in a crowd. But here is what we know: Since the restart of schools 5 months ago there have been NO new cases in schools and NO deaths in children and NO teachers catching the COVID-19.

Tim:  That is interesting, there is a fear that teachers will become infected and have to stay home.  Also, there is still fear that this is too soon to start classes normally without a vaccine.  Fear and caution are still high.

Skip:  If someone gets sick, they stay home for a couple of days and then come back when they are well, just like one does with any influenza. Children need to learn, so they are here.  Even on the streets when I go shopping, some stores are taking your temperature as you entered.  If it was normal, you were allowed to go in.  Masks are not required, people wear them in dense public settings. We wash our hands, wash our food before cooking it, just common sense hygine.

Tim:  So there are few precautions being taken in the most populous nation in the world right now?

Skip:  If kids or adults show symptoms, they are treated with Zinc and Hydroxycloroquine and a couple of days later, they are fine and go back to school. Sometimes they add a Zpac or a steroid. It works here, it is politically poison in the US and Canada. But as I said, kids have not shown been showing symptoms nor have they died from it.

Tim:  In North America, there is a huge push back against HCQ.

Skip:  In many countries it has been the most used treatment and the most effective in early treatment for COVID-19. It works and is cheap and means a vaccine is not necessary.  Three good things about it.

Tim:  For some reason, it has been panned by Doctors and health organizations so many physicians cannot prescribe it to patients in the US and Canada.

Skip:  That is sad. It is mostly because of the politicalization of it. The globalists/socialist/communist don’t want to see Trump re-elected so if it will help orange man—it has to be bad because Orange Man Bad. I suspect big pharma also plays a roll in this too. Someone needs to follow the money.

Tim:  So what is open in China and Shanghai?

Skip:   Clubs, pubs, restaurants, churches, grocery stores, department stores, malls, schools, factories, businesses of all sorts, tourist facilities, dance clubs and so many more facilities are open.

Tim:  You are aware of the situation in North America?

Skip:  I have been following it closely, I was raised in California you know.

Tim:  What would you tell the governments and citizens if your words could change their policies?

Skip:  Look at the recovery and life expectancy statistics. Open up, you are killing more people sequestering them (this is not a quarantine) with depression, alcoholism and drug overdose.  Let people live, get sick, recover and move on.  The world cannot stop because of a virus that is being touted as more powerful than Dr. Doom, Lex Luthor and Hitler combined but in reality the math doesn’t show that at all. And now that the CDC came clean, well it’s time to adjust the numbers and realize this is nothing more than a bad case of the flu and can be combatted with simple practices.

Tim:  What kind of practices?

Skip:  Common sense:  If you are sick, stay home.  If you are healthy, get to work!  Go to school, travel and meet people.  Practice good hygiene and if in a highly densely crowded area and you feel compelled wear a mask, but 90% of the masks out there are nothing more than a placebo. Our society has been damaged so much already by shutdown and distancing. It should not be a political tool, a way for a former software executive and his compatriots to make money from a vaccine nor should it be used to destroy the American way of life. Live your life!

Tim:  Thanks Skip, I appreciate it.

So, there you have it folks.  China, the country using HCQ and other drugs to combat what we send people home for 2 weeks and have paralyzed North America with.  Makes you ask the question, politics aside, who is running the table in our governments and allowing such societal abuse of our citizens when there is a treatment that works….

Pass this on folks.