IN MAY 2020, Dr. Joanne Liu appeared on Quebec’s popular Sunday-night talk show, Tout le monde en parle. As the former head of the humanitarian aid organization Médecins sans frontières (MSF, a.k.a. Doctors Without Borders) and an expert in health emergencies, she had been invited to provide insight—and, arguably, reassurance—into the COVID-19 pandemic to the roughly one million viewers watching at home.
Other than crew members, the only other people on set were the show’s two co-hosts and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. When asked if she had been worried, prior to COVID, about Canada’s state of pandemic preparedness, Liu paused briefly, with a slight smile, before glancing over at Trudeau. “I can feel our prime minister’s eyes on me,” she said, before acknowledging that, yes, she was worried.
“Epidemics and…
