The October Crisis of 2020
Oct. 6th, 2020 02:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blogcutterWhat lessons did we learn from the first wave of COVID-19 and how well are we applying them to battling the second wave, now (from most accounts) upon us?
First, it certainly looks as if the authorities did not respond quickly enough when the first wave hit. Let's leave aside for now the historical arguments about letting our health care systems and services deteriorate in the years and decades leading up to 2019 and consider the weeks leading to the lockdown in mid-March 2020.
We were told that the risks from the virus were low unless you were already frail, ill or elderly. We were told that it was more benign than H1N1 or H1N5. We were told that it would do more harm than good to wear a face mask unless you happened to be a health care worker involved in direct hands-on, face-to-face patient care.
The advice on masks persisted for several months after the March lockdown and it was not until some time in July that non-medical masks became mandatory in most indoor public spaces. Of course, some people were smart enough not to take the official advice at face value, with the result that even those little dust masks sold at hardware stores were sold out for weeks!
We were also instructed to stay home as much as possible and stay out of public parks (except for quick walk-throughs), never mind that outdoor spaces are felt to be much safer than indoor ones and nature was beginning to wake up for the spring and the weather was getting a little nicer too. While we did manage to pick up a maple syrup order at Fulton's, we had to remain in the car and were forbidden any access to their trails, even though social distancing would have been very easy out there. As for Gatineau Park? Forget it! Police policed the bridges between Ottawa and Gatineau, allowing only such interprovincial travel as the police deemed essential. This lasted from just after Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau finished her self isolation and managed to spirit her kids across to Quebec until the Monday of the Victoria Day weekend when barricades and checkpoints were reluctantly removed. And don't get me started on all those bylaw officers handing out exorbitant fines and punching out innocent members of the public for bringing their kid to the park while black.
There was of course some advice that was good and reasonable - like washing our hands and keeping our distance from others - which most of us followed and it paid off, at the time at least.
Throughout July and August, re-opening proceeded in cautious stages of phased re-openings. We even managed to re-open schools in September, although there have definitely been some mis-steps and growing pains.
And now? Well, the increases in infection rates are disturbing, to be sure. New infections are mostly occurring in people in their thirties, maybe because most of them are just getting launched and do not feel they can afford to spend too long in lockdown. Some of them do become seriously ill with the virus and some pass the virus on to others even if their own symptoms are mild.
But I'll end on a hopeful note. I do see that the authorities are backing off quite a bit on the heavy-handed measures, looking at them as a last resort (or at least not a first resort) and stressing education, information and individual responsibility and using one's judgement and common sense.
For now, we are limiting interpersonal mingling as far as is reasonable, because it's the right thing to do. It's not always fun, particularly for those who live alone or who have a naturally expressive, outgoing sort of personality.
We'll be doing things a little differently this year - Thanksgiving, Halloween, probably Christmas too. But we'll still mark the occasions somehow.
Anyone for a new autumn or winter hobby?
https://www.ottawamatters.com/local-news/new-holiday-traditions-winter-activities-dr-etches-on-turning-the-covid-19-tide-2768461?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Email
First, it certainly looks as if the authorities did not respond quickly enough when the first wave hit. Let's leave aside for now the historical arguments about letting our health care systems and services deteriorate in the years and decades leading up to 2019 and consider the weeks leading to the lockdown in mid-March 2020.
We were told that the risks from the virus were low unless you were already frail, ill or elderly. We were told that it was more benign than H1N1 or H1N5. We were told that it would do more harm than good to wear a face mask unless you happened to be a health care worker involved in direct hands-on, face-to-face patient care.
The advice on masks persisted for several months after the March lockdown and it was not until some time in July that non-medical masks became mandatory in most indoor public spaces. Of course, some people were smart enough not to take the official advice at face value, with the result that even those little dust masks sold at hardware stores were sold out for weeks!
We were also instructed to stay home as much as possible and stay out of public parks (except for quick walk-throughs), never mind that outdoor spaces are felt to be much safer than indoor ones and nature was beginning to wake up for the spring and the weather was getting a little nicer too. While we did manage to pick up a maple syrup order at Fulton's, we had to remain in the car and were forbidden any access to their trails, even though social distancing would have been very easy out there. As for Gatineau Park? Forget it! Police policed the bridges between Ottawa and Gatineau, allowing only such interprovincial travel as the police deemed essential. This lasted from just after Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau finished her self isolation and managed to spirit her kids across to Quebec until the Monday of the Victoria Day weekend when barricades and checkpoints were reluctantly removed. And don't get me started on all those bylaw officers handing out exorbitant fines and punching out innocent members of the public for bringing their kid to the park while black.
There was of course some advice that was good and reasonable - like washing our hands and keeping our distance from others - which most of us followed and it paid off, at the time at least.
Throughout July and August, re-opening proceeded in cautious stages of phased re-openings. We even managed to re-open schools in September, although there have definitely been some mis-steps and growing pains.
And now? Well, the increases in infection rates are disturbing, to be sure. New infections are mostly occurring in people in their thirties, maybe because most of them are just getting launched and do not feel they can afford to spend too long in lockdown. Some of them do become seriously ill with the virus and some pass the virus on to others even if their own symptoms are mild.
But I'll end on a hopeful note. I do see that the authorities are backing off quite a bit on the heavy-handed measures, looking at them as a last resort (or at least not a first resort) and stressing education, information and individual responsibility and using one's judgement and common sense.
For now, we are limiting interpersonal mingling as far as is reasonable, because it's the right thing to do. It's not always fun, particularly for those who live alone or who have a naturally expressive, outgoing sort of personality.
We'll be doing things a little differently this year - Thanksgiving, Halloween, probably Christmas too. But we'll still mark the occasions somehow.
Anyone for a new autumn or winter hobby?
https://www.ottawamatters.com/local-news/new-holiday-traditions-winter-activities-dr-etches-on-turning-the-covid-19-tide-2768461?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Email
