Re: Silenced (July 25) and Auditor-General To Probe Lapse In Pandemic Warning System (July 30): “What you present up the chain has to be dumbed down,” said one epidemiologist quoted by reporter Grant Robertson. This eye opening exposé of the Global Public Health Intelligence Network reveals to me a crucial communication gap.

That this brilliant system fell into disuse, because analysts couldn’t get their messages through to bureaucrats who lack scientific backgrounds, indicates more science communicators should be placed in public health and public policy.

Hopefully the Auditor-General will come to this conclusion, too.

“Say What?” was originally published in The Globe and Mail’s Letters to the Editor section on August 4, 2020.