HEALTH

HEALTH COVID-19 in B.C.: the political madness continues

by Charlie Smith

I’m trying to think of the right words to describe what just transpired in the spring session of the B.C. legislature. Insane? Bizarre? Freakish?

As I would watch the daily question period on the Knowledge Network at 7 p.m., I was stunned by the number of B.C. Liberal MLAs who were sitting casually in their seats without masks as they badgered the premier over the breakdown of the healthcare system. ey would raise everything from the shortage of doctors to a new museum without once pointing to the shockingly high number of COVID-19 cases clogging up the system due to the end of a provincial mask mandate.

On the government side of the legislature, there were more MLAs in masks, but certainly not all of them. I noticed on at least one occasion that the deputy premier, Mike Farnworth, was not wearing a mask as he sat beside the premier, a two-time cancer survivor.

Behind the premier, Tourism Minister Melanie Mark was, invariably, not wearing a mask.

Do these cabinet ministers and Opposition MLAs still not know that COVID-19 is mostly transmitted by tiny particles that hang around the air a er being emitted through talking, coughing, and breathing?

Are they ignorant or just inconsiderate? I don’t know which is worse.

Really, how di cult is it to put on a mask before you sit in the B.C. legislature near a two-time cancer survivor, for god’s sake?

Not that Premier John Horgan seemed too concerned. He regularly met people without masks in indoor settings leading up to the by-election that sent the maskless B.C. Liberal leader Kevin Falcon, into the legislature.

Maybe it’s NDP policy to have people not wearing masks around the premier so as not to make him appear weak. If so, we’ve truly descended into a Trumpian mindset.

Over a two-week period in May, 160 people died with COVID-19 in B.C., according to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. at is more than 11 people per day.

And that only includes those who tested positive for the disease in the 30 days prior to their death. It doesn’t account for those who may have su ered heart attacks, strokes, or organ failure as a result of immune-system or blood-vessel issues that resulted from their initial COVID-19 infection. en there are those whose cancer treatments have been delayed because hospitals are clogged with COVID-19 patients and so many healthcare workers are taking sick leave.

Here’s a message to those who haven’t been paying attention: COVID-19 is a serious vascular disease with primary symptoms of a respiratory ailment. If you don’t believe me, then read a 2021 paper with that very same title in the Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine.

It’s not just MLAs who appear to be a icted with brain fog to anyone who has read scienti c papers about how COVID-19 is transmitted. ere were a couple of photos oating around the Internet of large numbers of B.C. doctors sitting together indoors and not wearing masks.

Inclusion B.C., which advocates for people with intellectual disabilities, gathered unmasked for an indoor conference and dance. And don’t get me started on Dr. Bonnie Henry, our provincial health o cer, who models lousy mask behaviour on a regular basis even as B.C.’s death rate from COVID-19 rocketed ahead of Ontario’s.

Near the start of the legislative session, Henry brushed o a letter by the B.C. human rights commissioner, who was concerned about the impact of the end of the provincial mask mandate on people with compromised immunity. e provincial health o cer was backed up 100 percent by the health minister, Adrian Dix, who is immune-compromised himself. It’s a surreal world we live in.

By the way, COVID-19 also has serious nervous system consequences. In a paper published in Science this year, Yale University neurology professor Dr. Serena Spudich and the National Institutes of Health’s clinical director of neurological diseases and strokes, Dr. Avindra Nath, laid out the gory details a er reviewing 15 published papers. ese details include loss of smell, stroke, delirium, brain in ammation, encephalopathy, primary psychiatric symptoms (including delusions and paranoia), peripheral nerve syndromes, and neuromuscular disorders.

“Many people who experience neurologic symptoms that linger a er acute COVID-19 are less than 50 years old and were healthy and active prior to infection,” Spudich and Nath wrote. “Notably, the majority were never hospitalized during their acute COVID-19 illness, re ecting mild initial disease.” ey noted that the “pathophysiological mechanisms are not well understood, although evidence primarily implicates immune dysfunction, including nonspeci c neuroin ammation and antineural autoimmune dysregulation”.

“It is uncertain whether unforeseen neurological consequences may develop years a er initial infection,” these two brain experts added. “With millions of individuals a ected, nervous system complications pose public health challenges for rehabilitation and recovery and for disruptions in the workforce due to loss of functional capacity. ere is an urgent need to understand the pathophysiology of these disorders and develop disease-modifying therapies.”

In closing, it’s clear that those who want to wish COVID-19 away or who say we have to learn to live with COVID-19 are deluding themselves if they aren’t making serious e orts to stem the spread of this disease through the air. Do we really want people who engage in magical thinking to remain in charge of our healthcare, school, transit, and ferry systems?

If our leaders are so blasé about how this deadly disease is transmitted, what does it say about their capacity to address other serious societal problems, like the overdose crisis and the climate emergency?

It’s time for all of us in B.C., including school trustees and governors of postsecondary institutions, to get real so we can prevent unnecessary death and disability in our midst. g

Premier John Horgan regularly poses for pictures without a mask at indoor events, including this one with Tahltan leaders, even though he has twice been diagnosed with cancer.

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REAL ESTATE Could investor stampede cause deep price fall?

by Carlito Pablo

The Bank of Canada says it’s too early to talk about a signi cant correction in housing prices.

And as sales have started to cool, one of the things that bears watching is how investors are going to behave.

How deep prices could fall may depend partly on how these Canadian property buyers will react to rising interest rates and other market conditions.

As the central bank stated in a June 9 report, investors can “amplify house price cycles”. Are investors going to head for the exits in face of so ening prices?

“A sudden reversal of the in ux of housing investors seen during the pandemic could amplify downward pressure on prices,” the BoC said. e central bank’s recent report covered the broader subject of the overall state of the country’s nancial system.

In it, the bank identi ed six key vulnerabilities, two of which relate to household debt and house prices.

A discussion about housing investors formed part of these two vulnerabilities. “ e share of Canadians buying homes as investment properties grew in 2021,” the central bank noted. e BoC de nes investors as “existing mortgage holders who obtain an additional mortgage to purchase a property”. ey can “play an important role in the housing market if they make their property available to renters on a long-term basis”.

Investors accounted for over 22 percent of mortgaged purchases in the fourth quarter of 2021. at’s up from 19 percent in 2019.

“In 2021, they made purchases at a faster pace than rst-time or repeat homebuyers,” the bank said.

With this come added risks in the housing market. “ e increased presence of investors in the real estate market can amplify the vulnerability associated with elevated house prices,” the BoC noted.

How?

“During housing booms, greater demand from investors can add to bidding pressures and intensify price increases,” the bank explained.

When the Canadian housing market isn’t doing well, the increased presence of investors poses an added risk.

“When prices are stable or declining or mortgage carrying costs are rising, holding real estate as an investment becomes less attractive. e incentive to sell may be greater for investors who risk falling into a negative equity position on one or more properties, also known as being ‘underwater’.” e BoC noted that investors typically earn more income than non-investors.

However, they “tend to have higher loan-to-income ratios, once all the mortgages they hold are accounted for, and higher debt servicing costs”.

“If an income shock occurs—whether a reduction in employment or rental income because, for example, some tenants become unemployed—highly leveraged investors may need to sell one or more of their properties to recover some liquid assets,” the central bank explained.

“Although investors may not be considered as nancially vulnerable as noninvestor households given the amount of equity they have tied up in real estate,” it continued, “investors could intensify the e ect of an economic slowdown by adding downward pressure on housing demand and prices.” e Canadian home price index fell month-over-month by 0.6 percent in April 2022, the rst monthly decline since April 2020. is came in the face of a rapidly cooling market brought about by rising interest rates that have dampened sales.

However, the price index managed to climb 23.8 percent year-over-year in April. e price increase happened even though the number of transactions in April 2022 fell 25.7 percent below sales in the same month last year.

A huge drop in home prices may not cause signi cant losses for long-time homeowners who have built a large amount of equity.

However, a rapid downturn in the Canadian housing market could a ect those who have purchased lately.

“While the sharp increase in house prices over the past year has resulted in signi cant equity gains for many households, those who entered the housing market in the last year or so would be more exposed in the event of a signi cant price correction,” the BoC stated.

Is the Canadian housing market seeing the start of a signi cant correction in prices?

“It is too early to tell whether the recently observed decrease in resale activity and prices will be temporary or is the start of a deeper, lasting decline,” the central bank stated. e BoC has raised interest rates three times so far this year. It has indicated that more hikes are needed to contain in ation. e bank’s key rate has risen from the pandemic-low of 0.25 percent in March 2022 to 1.5 percent as of June 1.

It is expected to hike its rate to 2.75 by October this year.

In its report, the bank stated that it is “paying particular attention to the fact that a greater number of Canadian households are carrying high levels of mortgage debt”.

“ ese households are more vulnerable to declines in income and rising interest rates,” the bank noted.

As for the overall health of the country’s nancial system, the BoC is not worried.

“ e Canadian nancial system has proved resilient throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,” it stated, “and the balance sheets of businesses and households are generally in good shape.” g

Will this home at 5898 Highbury Street, listed on June 8 for $7,380,000, get its asking price?

If an income shock occurs… investors may need to sell one or more of their properties…

– Bank of Canada

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