As a US citizen very familiar with the US healthcare system, I'm very glad to be living in Canada during this epidemic where everyone has a Go To The Doctor Free card, literally. At times I am a bit surprised how readily Canadians will go to the doctor because they "woke up with a headache/back is hurting/eyes are red and itchy." Coming from the US it would never occur to me to go to the doctor for such "minor" complaints (to be honest, in the US I didn't go to the doc unless I was worried about immediate mortal peril or had an extremely long-running complaint, it's just too much trouble & they rarely help).

In this scenario, I think it's fantastic that Canadians are so quick to go to the doctor, and that everyone can do it on-demand. It means we're more likely here to catch more cases early & hopefully slow the spread. In the US, who is going to go to the doctor just because they have flu-like symptoms? And pay the 20, 50, 75, ?? dollar copay, wait in the line, then spend hours fighting with insurance later when they refuse to cover it? Yeah right. "May as well stay home," and this is going to cause tons more cases to go undetected & spread.

Canada is not perfectly prepared & is definitely making missteps (parade is still on in Toronto this weekend) but I predict the universal healthcare system will make the impact night & day different from USA.