Hacker News Reader

Comment by donkarma | Hacker News Reader

isn't this the state/province/county/whatever with the brain disease similar to prion going around?

Yup. Or at least there was significant fear about it being a new prion-related neurological disease. Since then, the government has "investigated" and been pretty vocal in denying any environmental causation or even any connection amongst patients whatsoever. In fact, there is apparently no "shared common illness" at all:

> An oversight committee reviewing the case files of all 48 of the potential cases found that the patients didn’t have symptoms in common or have a shared common illness.

> A separate in-depth epidemiological investigation last fall concluded the patients didn’t have any common behaviours, foods or environmental exposures.

> Following these reports, all the patients were excluded from the cluster and the Minister of Health has accepted the conclusion that no such neurological syndrome of unknown cause exists in New Brunswick.

https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/departments/health/neuro-...

Our government has a long history of arrogance and paternalism (probably nothing too unique there), and incredibly deep ties to the most powerful corporation in NB (again nothing new there), Irving, which has a uhh, let's just say, tenuous relationship with the environment and pollution. So it's hard to say whether or not one should believe the government's conclusion. But there it is.

Let’s be honest… Irving fucking owns the province. It’s enormous control has been held onto since the era of Golden Age wealth in America and they have a hilarious history of not giving a fuck about anything that costs them money they don’t have to spend. Safety, Health, Pollution, you name it Irving has probably cut all legal corners and is lobbying to make new ones they can cut.

It’s basically Canada’s “friendly” neighbourhood Lawful Evil Corporate Overlord.

I am not sure, but I believe at this point they think it is environmental as a best guess? Everything else has been looked into if I remember correctly.

It is most likely to be Covid. Many jurisdictions have undercounted Covid deaths especially for older people who die at home.

We're talking about 886 excess deaths in a province that reported 114 COVID deaths. Are unreported COVID deaths at home really that common and likely to be missed on the death certificate? In my understanding of the lethal progression of the disease, there's usually a telltale pulmonary phase which is very likely to lead the infected person to seek care.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com