blogcutter

Remember those memory games we used to play as kids? In the one cited above, we used to keep adding things - my jacket, my umbrella, my lunch, a spare pair of socks and so on - until someone forgot an item and was out of the game. Maybe it could be a good game for older people too, to keep those "senior moments at bay. And Covid-19 has put a whole new spin on the game!

I guess I probably started bringing a handbag to school once I regularly needed a spare maxi-pad or tampon to use at lunch time. When I crossed the threshold into parenthood, I'd also carry a spare diaper, a couple of wipes and maybe a small kiddy book to amuse the kiddy while we were sitting in a doctor's waiting room or the hospital emergency department.

Since the pandemic swept us all off our feet, I haven't been packing my bags for extended trips but when I do venture out, there's a whole new range of supplies I need to carry! Masks, filters, hand sanitizer, eraser-end pencils to use as styli when punching in a PIN... and now, my LINC tool (see an earlier entry for what that's all about, or visit https://lincedc.com)

And when we get around to assembling our 2020 time capsule, we'll definitely want to include those things I mentioned in the paragraph above!

In mid-June, just BEFORE school would normally have ended for the summer, the Ontario government rolled out a document explaining how you can build your very own "social circle" of nearest-and- dearest, or perhaps nearest-by-necessity of up to ten people, where direct physical contact is allowed and masking and physical distancing are not required. In other provinces, these are widely referred to as your "bubble". I wrote about it here on June 15 and provided a link to the Ontario government document but if you want to refresh your memory, here is that link again:

https://files.ontario.ca/moh-how-to-build-your-social-circle-en-2020-06-12.pdf

As kids return to school, many of those who DID diligently obey all the rules and build their government-sanctioned bubbles are now finding those bubbles burst by the very government who dictated the rules in the first place!

In-person schooling typically involves "cohorts" of students all in one particular grade. Is there a difference between a cohort and a bubble? Well, yes... you don't necessarily hug or even shake hands with everyone in your class or your school. Playground games have been drastically limited as have normal school activities like singing and playing certain instruments in an ensemble. But class sizes haven't been reduced and over the past months, clear distinctions have been drawn as well between indoor and outdoor interactions.

So who precisely can benefit from "bubbling" without breaking any rules? I suppose a few people or maybe couples who happen to live alone (and likely within the same part of town) could bubble together if they don't already have any living relatives, intimate partners, personal attendants, or friends of a highly tactile nature. But I'm having a hard time imagining a legitimate 10-person bubble unless maybe it's a family of 10, a commune of folks living off the land, maybe a kibbutz...

It all comes down to that Rule no. 5 - be true to your circle. I mean, I'm really just in a bubble of two at the moment. You'd think there'd be plenty of room for growth and development there. We'd add our daughter's family of five in a heartbeat... except that that would be totally unfair and impractical for each and every one of them. I mean, they're bound to need babysitters or other child care workers and then they have their own friends and bandmates and the grandchildren have friends and playmates and other grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and on it goes...

Add school into the mix and is it any wonder that harried parents everywhere are throwing up their hands in despair?

I know this is a new virus and it's inevitable that to some extent we have to learn as we go. The novel "Coronavirus!" is still being written. But surely some of this could still have been planned a little better even if those plans had to be tweaked, adjusted and modified by a sort of calculated trial and error method. We can't all be flying by the seat of our pants all of the time without crashing spectacularly!

The trend towards making (non-medical) masks mandatory in many public places (especially indoor spaces) is giving new meaning to those words. Remember all the furor around religious garb, especially in Quebec? "Around here, we show our faces to get service!" was the rallying cry of a number of politicians - often the same ones who once decreed that you couldn't do anything without a Social Insurance Number or a Pension Number or some other sort of number, whereas names and faces were pretty much immaterial.

Personally I do wear a mask for shopping and I wore one on OC Transpo even before they decided to make them compulsory. But I'm rather wary of officials policing the situation, especially if it gets to the point of stiff fines and other penalties. Extenuating circumstances do exist, more often than one might think - zero tolerance makes zero sense.

Moreover, masks can be uncomfortable, especially in hot weather. They can make effective communication difficult. And they're not always readily obtainable, even if financial constraints do not stand in the way.

A better option for many might be face shields:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/buckner-face-shields-demand-1.5613976

No doubt they cost more and are probably more difficult to cobble together with tools and supplies you might have at home, but I think I might like to give them a try. And maybe there are further options we haven't thought of yet?

If we do move towards an enforcement model for masks in public places, I wonder what the position will be on face shields?

I guess we'll just have to wait and see!