The idea for Canopy really began with a very personal experience. I gave birth to my first baby in New York City on March 24, 2020, right in the earliest days of the pandemic when the city was in full 'shelter in place.' Overnight, there were no playgroups, no mom gatherings, no places to go with a baby. The normal ways that parents meet each other and find support totally disappeared.
At the end of January, Washington, DC, saw an extremely unusual event. The MAHA Institute, which was set up to advocate for some of the most profoundly unscientific ideas of our time, hosted leaders of the best-funded scientific organization on the planet, the National Institutes of Health. Instead of a hostile reception, however, Jay Bhattacharya, the head of the NIH, was greeted as a hero by the audience, receiving a partial standing ovation when he rose to speak.
Everything is changing, and in the face of that, America is failing. Over 90,000 souls have paid for our failing. Millions more are living in terror for their livelihoods and their families. But Covid-19 isn't a technology problem, or a science question, or a supply chain issue, or even a question of doctoring. This challenge is public health, and that is something we've been failing at for a damn long time.
