Now that the end of 2020 is in sight, it's fair to ask, 'What just happened?'

The NPC Healthbiz Weekly has launched. It's your weekly briefing on topics pertinent to healthcare marketers and executives published in cooperation with Peak Pharma Solutions. From Chronicle Companies, organizers of the National Pharmaceutical Congress. More info at pharmacongress.info

⇒ Issue #149 (In numerology, 149 is adventurous and expresses a personal sense of freedom.)

⇒ Confirmed Covid cases in Canada as of 12/16: 479,064*
⇒ Confirmed Covid fatalities in Canada as of 12/16: 13,685*
⇒ Worldwide Covid cases as of 12/16: 73,613,809*
⇒ Worldwide Covid fatalities as of 12/16: 1,638,565*

December 16, 2020—Good morning to all you plucky CurveFlatteners within the sound of my voice. It's your old compadre Mitch Shannon here, scratching out the last of my 2020 contributions to our Covid blog. There will be four more editions of DCF to follow before Allan Ryan blows out the candle on this year's version of our experiment, on Dec. 22.

I just went back and revisited the first edition of DCF, which was set loose way back on March 30. Returning to the screed I typed out on that occasion (titled "What Did You Do in the Pandemic, Daddy?") is a kind of humbling exercise. Frankly, no one might have foreseen that we'd wind up assembling 150 or so more of these newsletters before New Year's Eve, and, equally plainly, if anyone had made that prediction, we surely would have put the kibosh on the idea right then and there. 

Sure, it must look easy, tossing off breezy discussion spiced with off-handed sardonic asides about the day's developments in containing the deadly pandemic that threatens humankind. Easy, that is, if you're Alan Alda playing Dr. Hawkeye Pierce in the first seasons of M*A*S*H. Not so easy when you're doing a demanding day job while also trying to navigate all the hazards and nutty complexities of life during the lockdown.

So, I went back and looked at how I concluded my discourse back at the tail-end of March.  "With a bit of sustained discipline and a decent measure of luck," I keyboarded, "the services of the Daily CurveFlattener may not be required for much longer. Wouldn't that be excellent? Meanwhile, read on..."

I wonder what I may have meant by "required?" That word was uttered weeks before Prime Minister Trudeau opened the public purse to programs such as the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy and other measures offering sustained aid to businesses and families. People's requirements may vary, but everyone needs the means to provide mortgage payments, car leases, home heating, groceries and other necessities. As a society, we "require" compassion, fellowship, respect, acknowledgement, and love where it's there to give or be given. No one requires smarmy e-newsletters as a condition for survival. Not even the folks who produce one particular example, i.e., the one you happen to be reading. 

But, listen, it's way too late now for cheap second-guessing from the peanut gallery. We're all still in the thick of it. The trick now is to hang on until the corner clinic or pharmacy gets its delivery from Pfizer or Moderna or whomever, and until then, continue to trust your lucky stars. 

Who's with me on this? Who's ready to continue reading today's clinical news from the Daily CurveFlattener? Excellent. Let's go...

The NPC Podcast is back for another season. The organizers of the National Pharmaceutical Congress are proud to release our new weekly podcast series, hosted by Peter Brenders. Peter's most recent guest is Mike Cloutier. Listen here now, or download the episode and play it at your convenience. The NPC Podcast is presented in cooperation with Impres Pharma

COVID CHRONICLE 12/16/2020

• Here in Canada, we are quietly proud of many things: our hockey players, our majestic forests, and our having hoarded a supply of Covid vaccines back in the spring of 2020. According to a New York Times data analysis collected by Duke University, Unicef, and the science-analytics organization Airfinity, the federal government in Ottawa has procured enough vaccines to innoculate every Canadian six times over. Great for us, and other developed nations have been nearly as successful at securing and hoarding sufficient jabs. As for the developing world: well, you know. Some health experts tell The Times the poorer nations may have to cool their heels until 2024.
  
• The arrival of the first Covid vaccines in Canada has had an emotional impact on many. Still, perhaps none as much as healthcare workers, who have been on the frontlines as 479,064 Canadians have become infected and 13,685 have died as of this morning. One of the first to receive a jab yesterday (12/15) was Samantha Hallgren, a nurse at the Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre in Ottawa. She tells reporter Catherine Porter: “When I got the call to go get the vaccine, I sobbed and sobbed.” Nurse Hallgren described the anguish of working in a long-term care facility and caring for the dying during the pandemic: “You are not supposed to hug and touch. But we just held [a veteran in her care], and the two of us cried.” Read the article here.
• So, when will they finally get around to calling your number to come and get your inoculation? That will depend on the province of your residence, your age, and occupation. In Ontario and western provinces, frontline health workers will be first in the queue, while Quebec will jab residents of long-term care facilities first, followed by health workers. First to receive the jab in Quebec City was Gisèle Lévesque, 89, a retired bank employee. She said: "They chose me. Oh, yes!" Observers think the first quarter of 2021 will be devoted to inoculating around 4 million individuals in high-risk groups, including health workers. The remaining 35 million of us will begin getting our shot at any point after April Fools Day.

TODAY CHRONICLE IS WORKING ON

The first-ever Indigenous Skin Spectrum Summit is planned for March 19 and 20, 2021, chaired by Drs. Rachel Asiniwasis and Gary Sibbald, organized by Chronicle.academy and Realworld.events. More info to follow. 


I CAN'T STOP WATCHING... 

"Sassy Justice with Fred Sassy" is the best few minutes you'll spend today. You really need to stop whatever you're supposed to be doing and spend the rest of the day watching this stuff. It's impossibly awesome.

TOMORROW AND TOMORROW

Please use the comments section at the Daily CurveFlattener to let us know what you're up to today. Or feel free to check in via LinkedIn, email, or your choice of connector. By all means, pass this newsletter along to your colleagues. Chronicle's Champ from Chauncey Street, John Evans, continues the coverage tomorrow.