He is an American who gets it:
Dallas Mavericks and Shark Tank star Mark Cuban was asked on a sports talk show why he is one of the few owners requiring fans at his games to be vaccinated or show negative test. He gives a fantastic answer on his strong stance on the vaccine.
In his column today, Bruce Arthur offers the opinion that Ontario's vaccine passport is a half-hearted effort by Doug Ford that seems almost designed to fail.
...as the Star’s award-winning Rosa Saba reported in one of several essential pieces this week, existing vaccination PDFs can be altered after downloading using a rare hacking program known as … Microsoft Word.
What about the QR code system slated to come into effect next month?
…software industry experts estimate it would take approximately four months to build an adequately secure and stable system, which is what happened in Quebec. Ontario got three weeks. And while there is a paper/PDF option in Quebec, that province built both a QR reader and a business-side system to connect data to the database, so QR codes are secure and difficult to forge. Ontario is skipping that.
Oh, and Ontario’s QR app will be, uh, voluntary.
So after watching Manitoba create a plastic immunization card that fits in your wallet, and watching Quebec take four months to build an app that could be secure, Ontario decided on one month of easily faked documentation, followed by an option for more of the same. It’s not that this is the kind of system you would design if you knew and sympathized with people who didn’t want to be vaccinated, but it does seem like that kind of system, doesn’t it?
Hmm, is there a pattern emerging here? Well, the Premier has left little doubt where he stands.
…let me be very clear, this is a temporary and exceptional measure. We will only use these certificates for as long as they are needed and not one day longer.”
Many appear to be putting the clues together.
...some businesses are already signalling they won’t enforce the passport. At a sad, pitiable hospital protest in Toronto last week, one anti-vaxxer told me they anticipated businesses would signal to the community on the channels that anti-vaxxers use, like Telegram. And some hardcore anti-vaxxers are so feral that some restaurants closed their dining areas in anticipation of trouble.
Premier Ford likely has his eye on next year's provincial election which, in so many ways, will be referendum on his handling of the pandemic. Given the poorly designed nature of the vaccine certificate, he is clearly hoping that his base, much of which includes the crank crowd of anti-vaxxers, will turn out in force, understanding that he has done the minimum possible to try to placate those who place a high value on public health, at the same time offering a big wink and a nudge to his 'people'.
If you have been reading this blog lately, you will likely know the low opinion I hold of those who refuse to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Despite rising cases of the much more contagious and lethal Delta variant, the statistics regarding the vaccine-resistant barely change.
What is a sane, reasonably intelligent person to do, given that these people seem to be dictating the agenda?
Matt Elliott thinks he has the answer.
Ontario’s public health units have done a bang-up job of getting us vaccinated. But there’s a stubborn percentage that won’t get the shots. With variants circulating and Ontario reopening, it seems plausible this unvaccinated part of the population could give us escalating case counts and — the real red flag to worry about — increasing hospitalization numbers.
If that does happen, a return to general lockdowns would be really hard to take. Those of us who dutifully followed the rules for more than a year and got our shots at the first opportunity will rightly raise hell if this government moves to restrict us again. The obvious thing to do instead would be restrict activities based on vaccination status.
Leave the province largely open for people who have received their vaccines. Limit activities for those who have made the choice to leave themselves more vulnerable to a virus that could overwhelm the hospital system again. And protect those, like young children and people with legitimate diagnosed health conditions, who remain vulnerable to COVID-19 and aren’t able to get vaccinated.
Unfortunately, here in Ontario, Premier Doug Ford has ruled out that option. Whether for reasons ideological, political or cognitive, he has said that he doesn't want a divided society, but that is exactly what he already has, and the problem will only get worse. With his own limited abilities, he may even think that restricting access to restaurants, movie theatres, nightclubs, concert and sports venues, etc. will hurt the commercial bottom line, but if another lockdown becomes necessary, that is exactly what will happen.
We are told by various experts that we need to cajole, empathize with and show compassion toward the recalcitrant. In my mind, once the carrot fails, it is time to wield the stick.
Vaccine passports are the best solution for our troubled times.
