Dr. Michael Gardam, head of infectious disease prevention and control for Ontario's public health agency, believes the constant refrain of "underlying conditions" bespeaks a sort of wishful thinking, an attempt to explain away the unusual age range of the people the new virus is sending to hospital or to the morgue. "That's the story that I think people haven't really registered," says Gardam. "We're clinging to these 'Oh, they had underlying illness, therefore it's OK."'