We are Not Okay by Dr. Elaine Chin – 23

By irenesroth on December 27, 2023

This book is about the pandemic and its consequences, which in many ways we are still living through.

Covid-19 made almost five million Canadians sick, put hundreds of thousands in hospital, and claimed over 50,000 lives. The numbers are startling yet they don't begin to capture the enormity of what we endured in our three-year ordeal, nor the fact that it's not over.

Many people are still grieving loved, ones, many survivors are still grappling with long-covid, and many continue to experience the pandemic as never-ending trauma.

General healthcare has deteriorated and waiting lists have swelled even for urgent surgeries. Rates of respiratory and heart disease and strokes are up. Years of involuntary confinement, isolation, and boredom have contributed to a shadow pandemic of alcohol, cannabis, and opioid abuse, especially among the young.

Rage is everywhere. The number of hate crimes have spiked, along with fears of civil disorder. Three million workers lost their jobs and a majority of small businesses either failed or weathered near-death experiences. Our workplaces, schools, and downtowns were hollowed out and many never entirely recovered.

As another of covid begins, people are still dying at alarming rates and we are just beginning to learn of the myriad knock-on effects of the pandemic. In this important and galvanizing book, Dr. Elain Chin argues that a full audit of the personal and social consequences of covid-19 is the indispensable first step to a full recovery for individuals, families and communities.

This is an indispensable book about a virus that is not really going anywhere. We will conceivable have covid for the rest of our time, morphing into different strains and intensities. Therefore, this book is an important resource for all Canadians to read and appropriate into their lives.

After all, since health care has become sick care, meaning that doctors don't have the space or time to see us for minor issues or prevention, we have to engage in self-care so that we don't get ill.

This is really an unprecedented time in the history of humanity. We have to embrace by getting into the driver's seat of our health and lives.