New York City is now considering versions of lock-down.

This is our relentless reality.

The premier and CMOH got us into this mess with reckless reopening too fast allowing the virus to rev up capacity. Invisible. Undetected.

NOW they dither and prolong our suffering w/ delay.

And worse, Ford claims it's science with Doctor Williams providing cover. Science tells them to delay they tell us.

Meanwhile actual scientists and doctors, who are not exactly known for fiery language, are calling them "absolutely crazy".

Scientists and doctors are howling with outrage, even demanding the CMOH resign.

It must feel deeply uncomfortable for them. I worked directly for scientists for years in Ontario AND Alberta.

And their proper instinct driven by science is stick to science stripped of emotion.

But especially stripped of anger.

Because anger is by definition political.

They are speaking out loudly, so far largely as individuals on their own initiative reacting to day to day events. Bc their professional orgs are not able to keep up and react in the moment as fast.

So that tells how serious and grave this situation is.

Ontario, your scientists and doctors are pulling every possible alarm to tell you there's something wrong at Queen's Park.

That the govt lost control of virus and the messages they are telling you are not reliable.

They are risking stepping outside their normal ways for talking to you - risking sounding political.

Don't forget they are also risking their funding against a govt known for imbecile lashing out in revenge for even the slightest slights.

Trust me, they do not do this lightly.

Important to know that health workers and scientists are caught doing a difficult dance.

Bc the CMOH rejected the best science, he is increasingly only heard by a partisan audience who trust the Ford govt on some level.

He has thrown pandemic communication roles out of whack.

Because pandemic comms roles for the health and science world depends on the CMOH sticking to a defensible science argument.

Keeping public safety messages non-political so the information is trusted and absorbed by the widest possible range of Ontarians.

The moment it was clear the CMOH was rejecting the best posssible science to save lives, he became a political agent of the government.

Countering him necessitates a two-pronged response from health and science.

Dr. Fisman and Dr. Bogoch are good examples of how it works.

Broadcast medical experts with a huge audience like Dr. Bogoch have stepped in to play the role of CMOH.

Because we effectively don't have a CMOH if his messages translate thru a political filter.

To keep his wide audience attentive to public safety messages to keep them safe - daily he appears on every network - Dr. Bogoch has to relay science information stripped of any political cues that trips the political radars of any block of Ontarians.

So, Dr. Bogoch rigidly sticks to science.

With bad government policy he will express concern and explain what the best science says.

But you generally won't hear him say "this govt is bad/I condemn".

This keeps all ears open to hear and absorb safety messages.

So that's how the traditional function of the health and science world during a health crisis is being maintained.

But to get your attention and marshal blocks of Ontarians in opposition to bad science, to compel change, they also need to step in and get a little political.

But that role is separate from the Dr. Bogochs.

Filled by experts like Dr. Fisman.

He will tell you 'this policy is bad and I condemn bc lives will be needlessly lost bc best science is...'

Two prongs:
1. Public safety message (Bogoch)
2. Compel better science policy (Fisman)

But as the scale of this tragedy unfolds faster and more intensively than even many experts anticipated, and the CMOH's complicity becomes starkly clear with evidence dribbling out to reporters from inside the govt, the dominant sound now from health and science is outrage.

That puts voices like Dr. Bogoch in a tricky position: holding that broad audience to absorb safety messages while not denying the reality his profession is screaming: the govt and CMOH mishandled pandemic.

I think he knows how to transmit that w/out tripping political wires.