Certainly, and thank you for the question.
I want to clarify that as a non-governmental organization, we aren't privy to many of the conversations to which you refer, although I co-chair, with Dr. Theresa Tam, the CPHA's health professional forum, which brings together health professional associations. We have been receiving briefings and having consultations with the agency on a biweekly basis on a wide range of issues, and we have been able to give feedback on some of the guidance documents.
Human behaviour is challenging when you're trying to get people to change their behaviours. When you have an epidemic that starts halfway around the world, there is a sense of insulation; there's “them and us”. Then you see some cases in B.C. or in Toronto; it's a “them and us”. You slowly have to change people's thinking so that there is no “them and us”, so that it's a “we” situation, but that takes time and it takes evidence. You have to prove to people that this is serious. That's where public health is often challenged, because when we're successful, nothing bad happens, but if we're unsuccessful—if we don't change people's behaviour, if we don't change our systems for the future—bad things do happen. It is a process.
I'll leave it at that for now.