(05-08-2020, 09:30 AM)tomh009 Wrote:(05-08-2020, 08:06 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: What will say is that Waterloo Region is definitely different from those two you mentioned (Kingston and Thunder Bay). We are much closer to a major city, Toronto, and we have much larger amounts of both international (as a result of a large international student population) and interregional travel.
This.
I might add though, Hamilton has a lot more traveling to and from it, and through it. And they are right beside Metro Toronto, yet they're doing better than WR is. Peel region, which is a super dense population, has similar numbers to WR.
Where the region failed was taking into account LTC homes and seniors homes. This wasn't on the radar. I've spoken to PSW's and they all claimed that region basically ignored them for the first couple weeks, with the concentration on hospitals and FR's. This is different than Kingston (old people first), Thunder Bay, Hamilton and even Peel region, which focused on places were old and/or sick people were.
I don't think anyone in WR got sick from any international student, at least according to the stats.
I think this is one area that we're going to have to take a good hard look into, and actually take ownership on how we failed. I hear what some politicians are saying, along with public health, and really pointing fingers elsewhere. They just have to admit that some other places, like Hamilton, had better focus. Hamilton is a great place to compare to, simply because they're more integrated to Toronto, they have more international travel, and very similar in population. They have 1/2 the cases and 1/4 the deaths.
Population comparison (excluding students): Hamilton: 536,000 and Waterloo Region: 535,000. This is as close as you can get to compare cities. Hamilton, I believe, has a more aging population too.