Covid Journal, Sept 2, 2020
The Curious Case of Dr. Ngola
Within an hour of finding out he had tested positive for coronavirus in May, Dr. Jean Robert Ngola was being blamed as the source of a COVID-19 outbreak in Campbellton, N.B., after his confidential health information was leaked on social media.
But an investigation by CBC’s The Fifth Estate and Radio-Canada reveals new contact tracing information that casts doubt on the certainty with which Ngola was identified as “patient zero” in the outbreak that resulted in more than 40 cases of COVID-19 and two deaths and points to dozens of other people in the northern New Brunswick community who could have brought the virus into the area.
Ngola’s legal team also showed CBC documents that indicate some of the people with whom Ngola came in contact during a trip to Quebec did not have the virus. Ngola had travelled to the neighbouring province in early May to pick up his four-year-old daughter without informing the hospital where he worked and did not self-isolate upon his return.
“We’ll fight it on the facts. Because on the facts, Jean Robert was not wrong,” said Joel Etienne, Ngola’s lawyer.
Ngola has since left Campbellton after enduring weeks of threats that he says drove him from the town he called home for seven years, which lies across the Restigouche River from Pointe-à-la-Croix, Que. He had more than 2,000 patients at his family clinic and also worked shifts at the Campbellton Regional Hospital emergency room.
The story has me shaking my head for a number of reasons.
Would he have been treated differently if he were an established white doctor? Would things have transpired differently if we didn’t have the level of hypersensitivity and hypochondria that we all collectively now have as a result of having our lives put on hold for the last five months?
I hope I’m wrong on both accounts, but there’s a feeling of … unease … associated with this and similar stories about people getting feistier when it comes to different situations. It’s a disturbance that is growing everywhere. Whether you’re wearing a mask or not, or you forgot to hand sanitize for the 100th time today or you just can’t go out right now because you’re concerned about the array of interactions you’ll have to face.
Dr. Ngola’s story highlights my fear that mob rule is coming and that we should all dial back our hyperbolic accusations until the full story is available.
Doug Ford’s Covid Power Grab
When Covid hit, Doug Ford wavered between being a libertarian and authoritarian on one side and socialist on the other. He’s settled somewhere in between, but like all Cons, there’s more to the picture than meets the eye.
Last month Doug Ford’s majority Conservatives gave themselves the power to govern through emergency order.
Bill 195 was rushed through the Legislature in the middle of the summer under cover of a global pandemic while Ford was on a tour of southwestern Ontario.
The usually Ford-friendly National Post’s editorial called the passage of emergency powers “an unjustified violation of our Charter protected rights.”
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association labelled it as “a grab for more permanent emergency powers while cutting democratic controls.”
One Conservative MPP voted against it. To her credit, Belinda Karahalios stated that “at its core, Bill 195 takes away the Legislature’s ability to vote on the use of extraordinary emergency powers.”
Ford kicked her out of the caucus for standing up against his expansion of power.
Prior to its passage, the Legislature had to approve the extension of emergency measures under Ontario’s Emergency Measures Act every 28 days. Now, Ford has extended the power to renew each year in perpetuity, including after the pandemic is over.
These emergency measures include the power to collect personal health information, allow the use of force by police, set prices and override existing legislation, including union contracts.
Instead of co-operating with the opposition, the Ford government refused to tell the opposition which bill would be discussed in the Legislature on any given day. This undermined the ability of opposition government members to prepare for debate.
To shore up his control over the courts, Ford has pushed through legislation which gives his government greater powers to appoint judges.
Before judges were appointed through a council process.
The Ford government has replaced that with a system where judges could be appointed for their views on controversial issues like abortion.
Doug Ford is NOT the ‘good guy’ he’s pretending to be.
It’s time we all understood that and bring him back to his bottomed out approval ratings.
Does Gislaine Maxwell Hold the Key to the Biggest Story in Several Decades?
I haven’t really been sure what to say about this story except for Holy Fuck.
Any time I see the odd list of people that might be named in any given case related to Jeffrey Epstein or Gislaine Maxwell, I wonder what’s going on in the world and, to be honest, it’s a little overwhelming. I mean, hundreds of celebrities, politicians and business leaders doing extremely perverted things and supporting a network of pedophilia, crime and drugs.
This site identifies that the Gislaine Maxwell story may very well become the story of the decade, if not the early part of the 21st century. The ‘Lolita Express’ is now famous for having brought people like Trump, Clinton, Kevin Spacey and more to various ‘destinations’.
I’ll bet. If you flew on this plane, the US Feds are looking for you.
More Cities Installing ‘Check Points’
Remember ‘Check Point Charlie’, where the people of Berlin had to wait patiently while their privacy was violated if they – for lord knows whatever reason – needed to move from East to West Berlin or back again?
More and more cities are starting to establish ‘check points’ to harass people moving around during lockdown, including New York.