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w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, M ar ch 11 ,2 02 1 | 8 ABOUT US This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised of more than 70 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are urged to bring their concerns to the attention of the news- paper and, if not satisfied, write The National NewsMedia Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. Phone: 416-340-1981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca editorial@waterloochronicle.ca facebook.com/waterloochronicle @wlchronicle WHO WE ARE VP, Regional Publisher Kelly Montague Regional General Manager Nelson Parreira nparreira@metroland.com Regional Director of Media Heather Dunbar hdunbar@starmetrolandmedia.com Advertising Representatives Cassandra Dellow, Jan Bodanka, Matt Miller, Lisa Humphreys, Sheri-Lyn Blair, Chris Rego Managing Editor Robyn Wilkinson Online Editor Adam Jackson Reporters Bill Jackson CONTACT US Waterloo Chronicle 475 Thompson Dr., Units 1-4 Cambridge, ON N1T 2K7 Phone: 519-886-2830 Fax: 519-623-9155 Web: www.waterloochronicle.ca Letters to the editor All letters must be fewer than 320 words and include your name and telephone number for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject letters. Published letters will appear in print and/or online at waterloochronicle.ca Delivery For all delivery inquiries, e-mail customerservice@metroland.com or call 519-894-3000 OPINION TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT WATERLOOCHRONICLE.CA EDITORIAL LETTERS & COMMENTARY LET'S BE READY THIS TIME FOR THIRD WAVE OF PANDEMIC One of the biggest ques- tions during this second wave of the COVID-19 pan- demic is that many provin- cial governments started the lockdowns too late. Sci- entists and doctors have lob- bied for lockdowns to be started sooner and to be ex- tended much longer, espe- cially in Alberta and Onta- rio. Quebec decided to con- tinue with a curfew instead. It had, and still has, the worst record regarding the number of positive cases per 100,000. The four Maritime provinces had the lowest cases compared to the other six provinces. Now that we are in the second wave and finally re- ducing the number of cases, there is another call by the medical experts to be aware of a third wave coming and yet they are not being lis- tened to. When will these provincial premiers realize that their inaction's have al- lowed many people (espe- cially seniors) to die? What is the punishment for this? It certainly must be more than just not re-electing them. JULIUS TOTH, WATERLOO LOCAL HEALTH AUTHORITIES ARE GREAT AT VACCINE ROLLOUT Thanks to the great lead- ership of our regional health units, people are reg- istering and being vaccinat- ed, all the while awaiting the master plan of the province. I really thought that, with the guidance of retired general Rick Hillier, there would be a quick, bold re- sponse to the arrival of vac- cines. The rollout would take place with military pre- cision, having been well planned with the knowl- edge that the vaccines were coming soon. Hmm ... I'll bet the regional health officials had a good chuckle when they saw the province's low bar of vacci- nation projections. I would bet at this point if the prov- ince was not involved, we would all be the better for it. Here's to regional health units! DAVID OTTENBRITE, CAMBRIDGE SCHOOL BOARD SHOULD HAVE BETTER PROTECTED KIDS ONLINE RE: When online learn- ing leads to a terrible place (waterloochronicle.ca, Feb. 26): After reading Luisa D'Amato's column, I am ap- palled, in true "stomach- turning" fashion, as she put it, that the public school board has not done more to protect children from harm- ful online experiences. As a safety issue, this should have been front and centre when designing on- line learning programs. PAULINE RICHARDS, WATERLOO It should not come as a great surprise that David Sweet, Conservative MP for Flamborough-Glanbrook, has joined with independent MPP Roman Baber to con- demn lockdowns and call for all of Ontario to be returned to green zone status. After all, Sweet was among the tiny minority of Cana- dian politicians who ignored international travel advice and went to the U.S. over Christmas. He got caught, quickly announced he wasn't running again and "resigned" from his position on the House of Commons standing committee on access to information. His party leader, Erin O'Toole, was not impressed. So Sweet obviously figured he had nothing to lose by signing up with Baber among the handful of politicians, most conservative, to come out publicly opposing pan- demic control measures. Their position is largely the same and is well-known by now: lockdowns do more harm than good and don't work in controlling COVID-19. There is no arguing they do real economic and social harm. That is why federal and provincial governments have invested billions in trying to mitigate the impact of lockdowns. But it is flat out untrue, and insulting, to argue they do not work. The opposite is true. Ontario's story is proof of that. When the pandemic hit a year ago, we eventually locked down the economy. After months, cases began to recede. The Ford government then began to reopen, pre- maturely as it turns out, because cases and all the other important measurements began to increase again. Not wanting to put businesses and consumers through lockdown hell again, the government was slow to lock down a second time, until the severity of spread threat- ened to overwhelm the health-care system. With no other choice, Ford locked down again. And what happened? It took a long time but eventually the spread began to slow, infection numbers began to drop. And this time the arrival of vaccines began to make a difference. So again, the government began to reopen, albeit with provisos and emergency brakes to be applied if a region starts to look dangerous. That was just a couple of weeks ago, and what is happening now? The slowdown that was evident in the latter part of lockdown has plateaued and cases have again been tick- ing upwards. It is asinine to maintain lockdowns don't work to con- trol the spread of COVID-19. They have worked in Onta- rio, in other provinces and around the world. Some coun- tries were much more aggressive with lockdowns (such as New Zealand) and have been rewarded with much better pandemic outcomes. But back to Sweet and Baber. When the latter made his public declaration, he quickly found out his party bosses, including Premier Doug Ford, aren't big on internal dis- sent. Baber was booted unceremoniously and sits as an independent, largely ignored, MPP. LOCKDOWNS ARE PAINFUL, BUT OF COURSE THEY WORK