Quarantine Edition: It's Like Watching Tiger King
Episode Details
Transcript
Covid 19, the pandemic that's causing a lot of people to complain right now. This first of many episodes, we sit down with a political comedy writer who describes this as the Tiger King and a slasher movie, an frustrated emergency resident, and someone with asthma who's fearful for their life due to the stupidity of others.
Timecodes:
0:00 - Introduction
4:00 - first interview
14:00 second interview
Speaker 0
Hey, everyone. It's Brit here, and I'm inquiring this out of the comfort of Speaker 1
my own home. As you may know, we're going through a major pandemic, the COVID nineteen pandemic. This has caused a lot of concerns, anxiety, and raises a lot of political and societal problems. And people have a lot to say about it. So in the next series of special episodes, I'm interviewing everyday people, medical professionals, people who have lost their jobs and more to talk about the all around issues and pet peeves. About COVID nineteen. So let's jump into it. This is what the peak a show that explores a funny, strange, and serious pet peeves that people have. Agree or not, unapologetic podcast is on a mission to make people less shitty to one another.
We're finding a way to make the world a better place fixing one pet peeve at a time. I'm your host Britney Wing.
Speaker 2
I'll give you my hot take. It's like watching the Tiger King and then turning to your partner in the end credits and being like, you know, based on this film, I think our relationship is healthy and our pets are happy. Speaker 3
Oh my god. I have never thrived so much in my OCD life. It's like, now I get to disinfect literally everything and no one is judging me. They're just trying to copy. Speaker 4
There just doesn't seem to be like a unified message for people on the front line, and that's been incredibly frustrating. Speaker 2
I'm worried about rent and somebody, you know, is like, oh, man. I really don't know. Like, I can't get my groceries delivered till the middle of April. Speaker 3
Literally holding himself back not to just scream at that, yeah, Sharon. We're doing this because of you. Like, we're losing our jobs. We're unemployed to protect you. Stop complaining. Speaker 1
So first things first, how is everyone doing? I'm currently in self isolation, talking to myself. All alone in my place in Toronto. So please excuse the sound quality as I'm not in my regular studio. Anyways, before we jump into our first guess. I like to briefly talk about some of my thoughts on this pandemic. There are so many things I like to say, but I think I'll start off with the fact that in the beginning, of this pandemic, people were basically going to the store hoarding toilet paper hoarding cleaning supplies and acting basically, like the apocalypse is happening. And it's sort of understandable as it does seem like the apocalypse is sort of happening. But what makes me frustrated about this is that, first of all, although I'm not a doctor, I can fully say the virus does not cause you have explosive diarrhea and a consistent line of shit coming out of your ass. So you really don't need to use that much toilet paper. Second of all, it's also being mindful of other families and people who can't afford to buy a hundred rolls of toilet paper or stockpile on cleaning supplies all at once. And thirdly, during this pandemic, grocery stores are still open. Essential businesses are still open, so you can still get your supply of toilet paper and cleaning supplies. And I think this is one of the cases of how people lack empathy during times of crisis. So in the next couple episodes, you'll hear me talk to people about their pet peeves on COVID nineteen, and how we can learn about taking the steps to be more empathetic and less shitty to one another during times of crisis. Anyways, let's jump into our first guest, Dan Spiron. He's a political comedy writer, worth extensively in media, and he's one of my advisors. He's here to talk about his pet peeves on the Canadian attitude towards this pandemic. So first things first, how are you? I just wanna know, like, just kind of checking up on you and how you're dealing with social distancing.
Speaker 2
I think that I would be a lot better if I hadn't spent a good portion of my career in News and politics. Like, if I if I just didn't know anything and could just watch Netflix. But any situation that, like, involves people acting responsibly, corporations acting ethically, Our media slowing down, our government speeding up is basically a Stephen King novel to me. It's kind of hard not to just sit and enjoy yourself and, like, just bake bread. It's it's it's for me, like, watching the news in politics is just frightening. I like a different level now. So I think, like, my biggest pet peeve that if I will just end up launching into a rant, but I think my biggest pet peeve right now is the, like, usual Canadian smugness of, like, at least we're not America because that's sort of terrifying right now. Speaker 1
Oh, I think having a lot of conversations with my peers and just listening and looking at Canadian news right now, and then you have the juxtaposition between seeing Justin Trudeau addressing the nation and then you see Trump addressing the nation. Speaker 2
Yeah. But it's it's so hard because Candice pastimes I think are like hockey, like pretending Drake is a good person and then feeling smug about not being America? Like, our identity I think is somewhat, hey, well, at least we're not them? So wait, and you saw that you always see that with health care or like the memes of meanwhile in Canada. And I think that's usually pretty unhealthy on, like, a regular, like, dress down Friday, but when we're on when we're in full pandemic mode? It's it's really it's really frightening because I'll give you my hot take. It's like watching the Tiger King and then turning to your partner in the end credits and being like, you know, based on this film, I think our relationship is healthy and our pets are happy. Like, that is not. The bar for where we should be in how we're dealing with our own pandemic. But I go on to Facebook or Instagram, And somebody's like, oh my god, America. And you just wanna shake them and be like, Canada also has a deadly virus. And isn't only available at, like, in an out burger. Like, the in lee store not America Lane is going to get us killed because America has driven fully off a cliff. Speaker 1
Yes. It certainly has. What do you wanna kind of say to those people who are just at least we're not America right now. Speaker 2
Okay. So this is my solution to this problem. I think you need to treat COVID like mass shootings. Because if we have a mass shooting in Canada, you're not, like, Yeah. But, like, America has one a day, so relax. Like, we freak out because we should. They have one a day. Like, American society right now is just so messed up. You could actually make it argument like America's COVID silver lining is that nobody can gather in enough numbers to be shot. Like, as you said, like, Trudeau looks great, but like Trump is on Twitter bragging about his ratings for the briefings where he updates people how bad he is at protecting them from a virus. And it's so weird to me, like, what would be the Canadian counter to that? Is Trudeau gonna be like, So, like, I know a lot of you are born at home, but if you check our website, I've dropped some new blackface photos. And, like, even if he did that, white folks in Moosextrot would still be like, you know, at least he isn't bragging about his COVID death. I think because I'm a little bit older, like I'm in my thirties, so I was in high school when nineeleven happened. And then I had my first like television show when two thousand and eight in a stock market crash. So I think for older millennials, we have some sort of metric to look back on and be like, how is this going to be handled? And how is this? And I remember, like, when I was in high school, nine eleven happened. It was like the first sense of like, oh, our society can't adjust on the fly well. And the CNN feed had like a had a full blown jingle. It was like America under it. Attack. And you just remember being like, okay. The sky is literally falling. You do not have to sensationalize this, but they're so used to it. That they don't know when to take their foot off the break. You literally had like a tower falling and there was some guy in the studio being like, can we get better music for that? Like, it's so It's so bizarre and I feel like that's kind of like what's happening right now is a little bit like we're all stuck in the plot of Contagion, but our media is still like We'll tell you what I love the grocery store won't kill you. That's coming up in the next hour. And just like, no. Like, wait, stop. We already are we're we're already watching. We're already there. But everyone continues on as normal. Like, one of the things that I don't know if you've seen this yet, but I just can't get over it. It's like public opinion polling is still happening. Like, I there was a story the other day that was, like, according to a new poll, a majority of Canadians feel anxious. Like, I know you don't have a job. You can't leave your house. You're worried if you hit up a seven eleven, you might get plague, but we're just wondering for our crucial public opinion poll. Like, How are you feeling? Speaker 1
Okay. To wrap things up, do you have any last thoughts or anything you wanna say to people out there? Speaker 2
Here's my big thing. I honestly think social media is it needs to be put on a diet right now. So it's like, I really hope that people are responsible with their social media and only sharing information that they know is true. Sharing like government resources is better than sharing a hot take of somebody who's like, I've decided to make my own version of this government information like, no. So, somebody who was like around when social media began, this is what we thought social media was just going to be. Like, pandemic social media? It's just what I was hoping social media would be in general. Like you get to hang out with your friends when you're not seeing them. You get to hang out with strangers. You get to watch great entertainers put on shows like, this is sort of what peak distraction was supposed to be and we turned it into like Netflix and Tinder. Speaker 1
So what are your thoughts on how social media is being used right now? Do you feel like it's finally being put to proper use? I think that social media has been a tool right now that's been binding people together, and for me, made social distancing a little more bearable. Next, we have Gabe, our resident physician doing emergency medicine in Toronto. He's gonna be giving us a little bit of a COVID nineteen one on one lesson what his frustrations are, and the bucking some COVID nineteen myths. Speaker 4
It's a really scary time right now, I think, for health care providers across the country and and in the world. I think we recognize how scary this is, I think, partly because we know how maxed out our system has always been. Like, if you went to any intensive care unit in December, it would have been completely full. And that's the case for most of Canada, is all of our beds are typically full. Most people hang out in the hallway waiting to be admitted to hospital at baseline for a day or sometimes two days. And so we've already been operating at a hundred percent capacity. So I think a lot of us are really scared about what this actually means when we start seeing waves of people coming into the hospital like they have been in Italy or now in New York and then running out of capacity. And, you know, especially people who work in critical care like I do, you start getting into future ethical scenarios that you might be worried about about who gets a ventilator, who doesn't get a ventilator, who gets treated, who doesn't get treated. And then there's the person of the house risk as well. I mean, You've probably heard about all of the PPE personal protective equipment shortages that's been happening. And so going into work, there's definitely this uneasiness about what this means for, you know, your friends and your family and your own personal health, though, also. So it's it's been a really unsettling time Speaker 1
Let's talk more about the personal protective equipment shortage. I've been like hearing around social media how people buy mask and hoard mask And can you just talk a little bit more about that? Speaker 4
So as healthcare providers, there are a few pieces of equipment that's absolutely necessary for us when we're working with patients that have COVID. So when it comes to guidelines on best practice when we're faced with a person may or may not have COVID. We're recommended that we wear a gown, gloves, as well as a surgical mask. And that's mostly because COVID is transferred through droplet secretions. And as healthcare providers, we often do procedures that are very close to people's face, very close to people's bodies, Now if we're doing procedures where we call it aerosolizing procedures, so this refers to someone who becomes very sick and requires oxygen, As we increase the amount of oxygen that the person gets, what happens to those little pieces of respiratory droplets is that they start becoming aerosolized, So the equivalent to that would be, if you wanted to get a spray bottle, every time you squeeze the spray bottle is aerosolizing the liquid that's inside and kind of misting it everywhere. So when that starts to happen with some of the procedures that we do, whether it be oxygen support whether it be putting someone on a ventilator. So putting someone on a ventilator entails me getting up close to people's face, putting in a piece of equipment to open the mouth wide and then basically insert a tube into the lungs. So it's as close as I could possibly be to someone. When we do those kinds of procedures, we're supposed to wear personal protective equipment that includes an n ninety five mask. And the reason it's called an n ninety five mask is that it blocks ninety five percent of particulates. So surgical masks don't necessarily protect you from aerosolized particles, but N95 masks block out ninety five percent of them. And so these are essential pieces of equipment, as you can imagine, I I don't think any general person in the public is ever exposed to that kind of safety risk. And it's becoming an issue because there are places in Canada where, you know, hospitals are running low on these masks, and employees are being asked to, for example, use one surgical mask a day, or two surgical masks for the entire day. In the United States, it's even worse. There are employees that are unable to get a mask at all, And now you're in a situation where the CDC is saying things like, you know, in that situation, you might consider using a bandana or a scarf. Things that have no evidence. And you essentially, what you're having is you're having frontline workers, exposing themselves to serious risk, to their personal health because there's just a mass shortage. And so it's been actually one of my really big pet peeves. When I do see people in grocery stores, for example, with these masks, that you don't need when you're looking for the size of the banana that you want, but you actually do very much need when you're trying to save someone's life. And that's, I think, become quite a frustrating topic for me. Speaker 1
What other frustrations as a medical professional do you have about this? Speaker 4
I think one of the other things that I've been a little bit frustrated about is the absence of clear messaging in regards to COVID. I don't know how much, you know, people in the general public kinda feel this, but I certainly feel this is a healthcare provider. Guidelines are changing hour to hour when it comes to COVID in terms of who gets screened, who doesn't get screened. It's like I show up to work every day and I have to ask people who who are the people to get screened? Has that changed because now we have community transmission or no? I think the kinds of messaging that's being provided to healthcare providers doesn't feel very unilateral. I don't really have one clear person to get guidelines from. Because, you know, there's the public health guidelines, but every hospital I work at seems to have a different policy when it comes to things like personal protective equipment, screening guidelines in addition to public health policy. And there just doesn't seem to be like a unified message, for people on the front line. And that's been incredibly frustrating. Speaker 1
From your hospital, what messaging have they told you? Speaker 4
At the hospital I'm at currently, we can wear a mask all day. So I wear one mask for most of my shift, and then I kind of switch the mask if I see someone with a respiratory condition. But at different hospitals, I I've heard different policies. I've I've heard some hospitals say you can't wear a mask the entire shift You should only wear a mask if you're seeing patients with possible COVID and not patients with, say, a laceration on the hand, Speaker 1
How do you feel about that? Speaker 4
It poses a real issue because the reality is in emergency medicine. First off, I can see someone for chest pain who doesn't have respiratory symptoms. And then by the end of my shift, they're requiring oxygen and are critically ill. Things change very quickly and rapidly in the emergency department. The other issue is we do know that asymptomatic transmission is a thing, and we know that there are patients who don't have symptoms that are coming in for different things that may actually in fact have COVID. And then there's also a third thing, which is that some patients lie. There have been patients that lie to triage and tell them they haven't traveled, and then come see the doctor and say, oh, yeah, I did travel. So there are things that you can and can't control. One of the things that you can control is your personal safety. Speaker 1
What systems that should be in place to ensure that everyone is safe? Speaker 4
The reality is, the reason social distancing works is that, basically, what it's called in epidemiology is we call this the r naught. Essentially what it is, if one person gets an infection, it's a term that indicates how contagious the infectious disease is. So, if I had COVID, how many people likely would I infect with my COVID? So, COVID has an R0 of about two. So, what that means is for every person that gets COVID, they're likely to infect two other people. So, you can see how this will spread very quickly. So, That's why social distancing is very important because there are a lot of people that won't have a lot of symptoms with COVID. Speaker 1
How do you feel about the people who aren't respecting social distancing rules and don't think that this is a serious issue. Speaker 4
I mean, I get incredibly mad about it. But I think At the end of the day, people have distrust towards authority, people have distrust towards people telling them what to do or what not to do. And some people frankly believe whatever they read on YouTube conspiracy channels, and Speaker 3
they may believe that this is, you Speaker 4
know, something that's created by the government to try and take away your liberties, etcetera, etcetera. I'm sure we've all heard this. But it's not gonna feel real. I think, until you get it, until your mom or your dad gets it, until you start seeing loved ones that you know passing away or becoming critically ill from COVID. That's when things are gonna really start feeling real. And the saddest thing is is that by the time we start seeing this happening and the waves start really coming in, it's gonna be too late. And we're really in this window period, where if this works out well, then three weeks from now, people will start saying that we were overreacting all along. Speaker 1
That's kind of a go through the miss of COVID nineteen for the people out there. Speaker 3
For Speaker 4
sure. Go over stuff that my mom's told me. So my mom tells me to salt water gargle. I don't know if you guys hear Speaker 1
Oh, yes. I've heard that word. Speaker 4
I think it was like some WhatsApp message that went around for a while and, like, all the boomers got it. Yeah. That doesn't work. Speaker 1
What about spraying alcohol over your body. Speaker 4
I didn't hear that would, but that's hilarious. I mean, yes, spray hand sanitizer on your hands. Think that's a good idea. You need a certain percentage of alcohol for it to actually kill COVID. Right? So if you're just taking your, like, ten dollars smearing off and, like, rubbing it on your body. I don't know if it's gonna really do a whole lot. Maybe just make you smile funny. Do you have more? I have a I actually had found something that one of the on Twitter had posted. Speaker 1
Okay. What is it? Speaker 4
That are pretty. Okay. So one is in the summer, the virus will spread more to your mosquito bites. So That's, like, not true because the virus has spread in respiratory droplets, not through blood. One thing that Trump talked a lot about was that coronavirus would go away in the summer months. So pandemics don't follow weather patterns. I mean, it hasn't in the past. Oh, I saw this one. So hand sanitizer is better than soap and water. So that's not true either. So soap and water kills the antivirus. So does hand san itizer, but the perks of soap and water is that it also washes away the virus from your skin. And it also cleans, like, visibly soiled hands as well. Speaker 1
Because that's like one of the things that I don't necessarily understand why people are buy buckets and buckets of hand sanitizer when you should be self isolating. So that means you have soap and water at home. Speaker 4
Yeah. Exactly. And even so the other tip I also get people is I notice in, like, restory stores that all the Lysol is sold out, but there are still, like, leaders and leaders of bleach. So the WHO suggest that you can actually take bleach and dilute bleach. And you can use that as lysol similarly on surfaces. You can disinfect surfaces. So that's totally something that, like, you could do in a pinch if you don't have Lysol. Speaker 1
Well, thank you so much for being on the podcast, Gabe. Speaker 4
Thank you. I hope it's, like, interesting, and I'm happy to answer any questions if you guys have anything. Speaker 1
No worries. It's been like really fun talking to, really insightful and very educational. I think we can all learn from Gabe that, firstly, this is a serious issue that spreads extremely fast. We all must take safety precautions in order to keep everyone's safe, and that we shouldn't believe every single COVID fact that we get from Facebook, Twitter, or even our parents. Lastly, we have Mariana, someone who has a predisposition to COVID nineteen. She's here to basically let out all her frustrations talk about her fears and talk about how people are being really dumb right now. Do you think that you're either differing because of seasonal allergies or just sniffling because you may have the coronavirus. Speaker 3
Like, I have asthma. So, like, all of the symptoms that are, like, mandatory or, like, oh, check out if you have this to see if you have COVID. I have them all year round. So like, dry new coughs. I don't know if I'm having a new attack, then I'm gonna have a dry new cough or severe shortness of breath. Well, guess what, allergies also causes that. And then there's pollen everywhere. And then, I don't know, dust. And then I also get like, oh, do you have a new headache? I don't know, is it sinus infections? Is it just stress and anxiety? Because that happens too. Is it caffeine withdrawal because I'm not drinking coffee every day anymore? Speaker 1
Damn. There's a lot of things I need to your head right now. Right? Yeah. So let's let's get to talk about that right now. When the whole entire pandemic occurred and in dude. What was your initial reaction? Speaker 3
Well, and when it started, I was just like, it's not that bad and then my mom But my mom is always like, whatever you do, you're gonna get sick and die because I was literally that child. I get sick all the time. And then Eventually, my mom's threats started to become real. I have been having a wonderful time playing a game do I have seasonal allergies? Or am I going to die in the next two weeks? Because, oh, if you have asthma, high chances, you're gonna need to go to the hospital. If you get this mild flu because you're gonna have multiple complications and you're gonna die. So that's me. Speaker 1
So are you saying that you do have a fear of getting COVID team. Speaker 3
Absolutely. I hate hospitals, and I'm and one end up in one. Speaker 1
So let's kind of talk about A little bit more about your fears with COVID nineteen. Like Yuri stated that you have asthma, Yuri have like a predisposition to getting this virus, what things are you doing to make sure you not get this and prevent it? Speaker 3
Oh my god. I have never thrived so much in my OCD life. It's like, now I get to disinfect literally everything, and no one is judging me. They're just trying to copy. But nothing goes in and out without getting, like, a nice bath and, like, disinfectant soap and water. Like, if I go outside, I come back in immediately and then just like shower, scrub everything, take all the clothes off. It's been adding to my laundry, but good thing I don't leave the house very often. Speaker 1
You don't leave the house very often? No. Do you only leave for groceries, I guess? Speaker 3
Yeah. But I've been trying to avoid doing that. Like, yesterday, I went to shoppers because I was in dire need of, like, basic stuff like bread, milk, eggs. Cereal breakfast foods, and general toilet paper, by the way. Oh, they finally stocked up. And that it was just like, just this ominous air. Like, they have like they have pieces of tape to tell people how far apart they should stand from each other in the line. And there's just like this whole feeling in the air that something is very, very wrong. And I'm just like, okay. This is how I die. Speaker 1
I think by going to any, like, essential like grocery store now. You see the tape, you see less people in the stores and then you see sometimes people putting a protective barrier in between themselves and the customers. Speaker 3
Yeah. Although, I do totally get it because we don't have anything to give us, like, barriers between customers and literally for clarity. I work in the mall that is a very popular mall in Toronto. And We work in a very popular store, especially with the elderly people, parents, and kids because that's our main demographic. So middle of the pandemic reduced hours. No one out on the streets, but guess who was their elderly couples and parents with their children. Speaker 1
What makes you frustrated about that? Speaker 3
Oh my god. I had to, like, watch the elderly couple, talk to my cashier and argue with him because they didn't like this whole reduced hours pandemic thing. And my cashier was just, like, literally holding himself back not to just scream at that. Yeah, Sharon. We're doing this because of you. Like, we're losing our jaws. We're unemployed to protect you, stop complaining. And then, like, kids running around spreading their Jeremy little hands everywhere. Speaker 1
Oh my goodness. What a customer service experience right there? Speaker 3
Yeah. And it's just like there's parents and, like, all you could see in the mall were people with strollers. And another really couple. Like, everyone else was either like their own jobs or at home? Like, we're trying to protect. All of you. All of you are the problem. Speaker 1
Let's talk about more about these elderly people coming into your store and how they're acting. I didn't know that they were basically complaining about reduced hours and everything like that. Let's dive a little bit more into that. Speaker 3
Oh, yeah. No. It's because they think that it's more important to buy, like, I don't know, two pairs of underwear and a discount sweater, then it is to just stay home and be safe. And every one for some reason was paying cash, like my cashier was literally he was screaming internally the entire time. Speaker 1
Because he's basically touching every single person. Speaker 3
Every one was paying cash that day. Guys, please use your card please don't let me touch you, and we're disinfecting everything. Like, the first thing that I did as soon as I got to work was disinfect everything I touched. Speaker 1
What are your opinions on people who don't take this seriously and just think it's a tiny, tiny flu? Speaker 3
I am screaming internally because, yeah, most cases present mildly. Yes. It might not be as serious. But the thing is, if you have like, assume that your population has a hundred thousand people, And then seventy percent of people are supposed to get sick. Like, this is a virus. You might have the COVID nineteen if you don't have symptoms at all. And but You can be like me and be like, oh, if I have COVID nineteen, I am going, Chad up in a hospital. But what happens if there's only ten beds in a hospital and ten percent of your population is in respiratory distress? You have a hundred thousand people, there's those ten beds are gonna be busy as hell. So I was just like, you're saying that I need to die. For this, basically. And people are just like, oh, no. It's invisible. They're just like, you know what? I can't handle this. And there's a lot of people who can't handle this kind of sick this. Speaker 1
How do you feel about the lack of empathy people have? Speaker 3
I get so angry because then it was just like there's two main discourses, especially because I've been following a lot of US politics because I'm also American. And Oh my god. It's just like, it's in light there's the eco fascist this course. It's just like, oh, look at all these people dying. It's better for the environment. It was like, no, it's not. Once everyone finishes dying, we're gonna go to what we usually do, which is destroy the fucking planet. And there's then the people that are just like, oh, you the economy is tanking. We must pursue. You know what? You can't have an economy if you if you kill everyone. Speaker 1
And that's it for the first of many COVID nineteen episodes. I know this is a difficult time right now, but only leave your place when you really need to. Don't hoard toilet paper, and check up on your loved ones. In next week's episode, I'm gonna be talking to a traveling physician in the stage, treating people with COVID nineteen. And I'm gonna be speaking to some residents of the states to see what the situation is over there. This is Whatta Peve, and I'm your host Britney Ween. For all the latest updates, or if you want to be featured on our podcast, be sure to follow us and send us a dm on Instagram at what the p underscore. Please support our podcast by subscribing and giving us a five star review. Thank you again. 