My friend& #39;s brother is in the ICU in Pakistan from Covid. She was meant to fly out yesterday but all flights to India/Pakistan were cancelled.

Meanwhile, I have received 8 DMs in response to my @thelocalhealth story on Peel that say: "It& #39;s all your peoples& #39; fault."

I& #39;m tired.

To reiterate what @David_Moscrop said, governments need to clearly communicate why flights from India+Pakistan were banned vs. the U.S, which accounts for more than 50% of our imported variants.

Not explaining means more racism against these communities https://twitter.com/David_Moscrop/status/1385984829498576898">https://twitter.com/David_Mos...

I am constantly sad. Not just because "my people" are struggling here, but also in India/Pakistan. Our families are large and spread globally. We are constantly dealing with grief from a distance. Please read @ShreeParadkar& #39;s column to understand this: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2021/04/16/my-aunt-died-in-india-claimed-by-covid-19-ordinarily-i-would-grieve-in-private-but-such-loss-is-not-mine-alone.html">https://www.thestar.com/opinion/s...

This may be naive to say but next time you want to send me a message saying "it& #39;s your peoples& #39; fault," consider Gurdeep Dhillon, the airport taxi driver who lost 10 colleagues to Covid-19, whose names we don& #39;t know and who we never protected or thanked. https://thelocal.to/you-cant-stop-the-spread-of-the-virus-if-you-dont-stop-it-in-peel/">https://thelocal.to/you-cant-...

I rarely get personal here but on a personal note, next time you want to send me a message saying the pandemic is "your people& #39;s fault," consider my dad who lost his brother to Covid-19 in Karachi and chose not to go to his funeral.

Believe me: "my people" have made sacrifices.

The feelings in this thread about dealing with two pandemics, one here in Canada and one far away in India/Pakistan, are more eloquently conveyed by @SabiVM:

"It really feels like because our skin is brown, our lives mean less." https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2021/04/24/india-is-in-a-covid-19-crisis-south-asian-canadians-are-weeping-from-afar-but-also-seeing-devastating-parallels-for-our-people-in-ontario.html">https://www.thestar.com/opinion/c...