Understanding heterogeneity to inform the public health response to COVID-19 in Canada

The authors make a persuasive argument, but who are they trying to persuade? Health care providers are clear that population heterogeneity is a major factor in many conditions, COVID-19 being only the most recent example. Alas, as they clearly state, good data ain't cheap. Successive provincial and national governments have neglected if not hamstrung public health, despite "lessons learned" from SARS in 2003. We are now paying the piper. Will governments learn this time, now that they're spending orders of magnitude more to deal with their short-sightedness. The next challenge will be persuading voter-sensitive governments to enact interventions that reflect this heterogeneity. Will they be ready to defend more restrictions in the poorer crowded downtown parts of cities where people take public transit to work--if they work--while allowing more freedom in the wealthy suburbs where self-isolation is the norm and people drive to their jobs? Heterogeneity is only part of the problem; government short-sightedness is at least equally culpable.