To continue, though, I think now it is a good opportunity to review where we are with COVID. Omicron really changed the equation. It changed the equation in terms of a couple of things. It certainly is more contagious, although somewhat less virulent, and certainly a lot of people have had it.
I think where we are right now is very different from where we were two years ago. In the initial first or second day, I would like to hear from the experts, both the epidemiologists and infectious disease people, as to how they see omicron changing the equation and where we are both nationally and internationally with respect to the virus.
Also, if I can get a little politics in here, I'd like to say that personally I think this is the time where we should, as a nation, be starting to feel a little bit of joy. We're coming out of omicron. Things were already getting better before omicron, and a lot of the health measures were being dropped. Omicron, obviously, set us back somewhat. It was a bump in the road, but now with omicron numbers coming down....
If you look at other countries, they had a sharp spike, and it's coming down. The virus has mostly mutated to a less virulent form. I think we should be happy. It really bothers me that there's all this rancour right now and that we are at each other's throats when things look pretty good in terms of dropping a lot of the mandates and getting back on our way to normalcy.
Let's talk initially about where we are, and then afterwards—I do agree quite a bit with Stephen Ellis—about where we go and talk about omicron preparedness. I think that is a useful approach to start with.
This is my last little political shot. We've gotten here. We've done pretty well so far. The fact that we've had one-third the death rate per capita of the United States means that, rather than having 90,000 dead Canadians, there are 30,000. It is far too many, but we have done well so far. It's not over yet, but so far, compared to most countries, I think we've done exceedingly well, and that's because of all Canadians.
That includes a lot of the people who are out there in Ottawa. I know quite a few of them have been vaccinated, and a lot of them have been involved in the shutdowns. Thanks to all Canadians, we are where we are, and we've saved so many people. I'd just like to acknowledge that at the beginning because I wish we'd get over our arguing and get on with life. Thanks.