COVID-19: A History

233 Pages·2022·5.407 MB·English

by  Jacalyn Duffin

c ov i d - 1 9
canadian essentials
Series editor: Daniel Béland
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1 covid-19
A History
Jacalyn Duffin
C OV I D - 1 9
A History
JACALYN DUFFIN
McGill- Queen’s University Press
Montreal & Kingston • London • Chicago
© McGill- Queen’s University Press 2022
isbn 978-0-2280-1411-9 (cloth)
isbn 978-0-2280-1508-6 (epdf)
isbn 978-0-2280-1509-3 (epub)
Legal deposit fourth quarter 2022
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free
(100% post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine free
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Title: covid-19 : a history / Jacalyn Duffin.
Names: Duffin, Jacalyn, author.
Description: Series statement: Canadian essentials; 1 | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20220272808 | Canadiana (ebook) 20220272891
| isbn 9780228014119 (cloth) | isbn 9780228015086 (ePDF) | isbn 9780228015093
(ePUB)
Subjects: lcsh: covid-19 (Disease)—History.
Classification: lcc ra644.c67 d84 2022 | ddc 614.5/92414—dc23
This book was typeset in Minion Pro.
For
essential workers everywhere
and
the memory of
those who could not be saved

Contents
Tables and Figures | ix
Acknowledgments | xi
Introduction: covid-19 Unmasked | 3
Part One | The First Wave
1 It Begins | 11
2 covid-19 Comes to North America | 25
3 Le Tour du Monde: Latin America, Africa, Asia,
and the Antipodes | 39
Part Two | History and Context
4 Cause: Germs, Viruses, Social Determinants, and Ecology | 55
5 Testing and Tracking | 66
6 Controls and Their Side Effects | 76
7 Treatments | 92
8 Vaccines | 107
Part Three | The Following Waves, and Beyond
9 Analyzing the Spread: Statistics, Damn Statistics, and Lies | 121
10 Beyond the Numbers | 143
11 Vaccine Wars | 162
12 Omicron and the Origins | 185
Conclusion: Looking Backward, Hoping Forward | 201
Index | 209

Tables and Figures
tables
1.1 Timeline of some early who actions, 2020 | 21
3.1 Approximate date of first case, date of first-wave peak,
and number of days to peak | 46
6.1 Cases and deaths per capita in Scandinavia and the Baltic as of
December 2020 | 86
9.1 covid-19 in thirty-six countries, March 2021 and January
2022 | 124–5
figures
1.1 How the virus spread in China to February 2020 | 16
2.1 Editorial cartoon by Bruce MacKinnon, 12 June 2020 | 29
3.1 Editorial cartoon by Theo Moudakis, 11 March 2020 | 48
4.1 The first images of coronaviruses taken by J. Almeida
with an electron microscope | 59
6.1 Editorial cartoon by Kevin Necessary, 19 April 2020 | 80
6.2 Comparison of relief packages: the 2007–09 financial crisis
and early covid-19 | 90
7.1 Editorial cartoon by Dave Whamond, 2 July 2020 | 106
8.1 Number of articles per year on coronavirus spike protein,
1983 to 2021 | 113
9.1 Features of uk patients with covid-19 as of May 2020 | 122
9.2 Global confirmed seven-day average of new cases and deaths,
January 2020 to January 2022 | 126–7
9.3 Incidence of covid-19 cases and deaths in Canada, March
2020 to December 2021 | 133