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Source: https://nationalpost.com/news/canad...-the-u-s-stays-open-their-health-care-systems
Why Canada is shutting down during Omicron while the U.S. stays open: their health care systems
The pandemic has exposed one trade-off that Canada makes with its universal system: Its hospitals are less capable of handling a surge of patients
Author of the article: Bloomberg News
Brian Platt and Kevin Orland
Publishing date: Jan 07, 2022 • 55 minutes ago • 4 minute read •
Canada's mortality rate from COVID-19 is a third of the U.S. rate, a reflection of Canada's more widespread use of health restrictions and its collectivist approach to health care.
As Omicron sweeps through North America, the U.S. and Canadian responses couldn’t be more different. U.S. states are largely open for business, while Canada’s biggest provinces are shutting down.
The difference largely comes down to arithmetic: The U.S. health care system, which prioritizes free markets, provides more hospital beds per capita than the government-dominated Canadian system does.
“I’m not advocating for that American market-driven system,” said Bob Bell, a physician who ran Ontario’s health bureaucracy from 2014 to 2018 and oversaw Toronto’s University Health Network before that. “But I am saying that in Canada, we have restricted hospital capacity excessively.”
The consequences of that are being felt throughout the economy. In Ontario, restaurants, concert halls and gyms are closed while Quebec has a 10 p.m. curfew and banned in-person church services. British Columbia has suspended indoor weddings and funeral receptions....
Why Canada is shutting down during Omicron while the U.S. stays open: their health care systems
The pandemic has exposed one trade-off that Canada makes with its universal system: Its hospitals are less capable of handling a surge of patients
Author of the article: Bloomberg News
Brian Platt and Kevin Orland
Publishing date: Jan 07, 2022 • 55 minutes ago • 4 minute read •
Canada's mortality rate from COVID-19 is a third of the U.S. rate, a reflection of Canada's more widespread use of health restrictions and its collectivist approach to health care.
As Omicron sweeps through North America, the U.S. and Canadian responses couldn’t be more different. U.S. states are largely open for business, while Canada’s biggest provinces are shutting down.
The difference largely comes down to arithmetic: The U.S. health care system, which prioritizes free markets, provides more hospital beds per capita than the government-dominated Canadian system does.
“I’m not advocating for that American market-driven system,” said Bob Bell, a physician who ran Ontario’s health bureaucracy from 2014 to 2018 and oversaw Toronto’s University Health Network before that. “But I am saying that in Canada, we have restricted hospital capacity excessively.”
The consequences of that are being felt throughout the economy. In Ontario, restaurants, concert halls and gyms are closed while Quebec has a 10 p.m. curfew and banned in-person church services. British Columbia has suspended indoor weddings and funeral receptions....
