The Great COVID Confinement continued

Day 685 of the “Great COVID Confinement”: actually it’s only day 41, it just seems like a couple of years have passed since we were all sent scurrying to the sanctuary and relative safety of our homes.

Life has been a little tougher for all of us and considerably more difficult for many. It is one thing, as it is in my case, to be quarantined in a pleasant house with a corner or two that you can each call your own and a yard to walk in when it’s with a person that you have already lived with for 38 years and whose irritating habits you have had ample time to adjust to. It is an entirely different thing for young families with children, locked into an apartment with no immediate access to playgrounds or the like, or for a single person, elderly or not, who lacks any social interaction whatsoever.

I would like to say that this pandemic – truly meaning as it does, “worldwide” – has brought us all together. I would also like to say that the adversity that so many face is also bringing out the best in human nature, which in so many cases it surely has. Unfortunately, in many instances, it also brings out the worst.

For every doctor, nurse, orderly, lab technician and hospital administrator risking their very lives so that others will be spared, there is someone like the nitwit masquerading as the governor of Florida who insisted that the states’ beaches remain open long after the danger was known and who now thinks it’s time to reopen these virus incubators once again.

Many political leaders, including our own Prime Minister, the many provincial Premiers, and the mayors of cities, towns and villages across the country, have stepped up and done their job admirably. Unfortunately, there are others, like the rulers of China, who did their best to cover up the serious nature of COVID-19 until it was too late. In our neighbour to the south, which now leads the world in COVID cases, Donald Trump has see-sawed between outright denial of the problem, comparing it to the normal winter flu, and predicting everything would be all right by Easter. Throughout the crisis he has looked at the pandemic from the standpoint not of saving the lives of millions of Americans but simply how it would affect his chance of re-election.

The pandemic has also been a field day for academics, editorialists, bloggers and tweeters who have crammed the media with everything from sound advice to outlandish conspiracy claims. As usual, rather than do any real research into the matter or check the source, many Canadians have been only too willing to accept that a miracle cure for COVID-19 is out there but is being held back by the government. The virus was brought to China by visiting members of the American military. The same drug used to treat malaria will work on COVID-19. You can get the virus jogging in the park. Wearing a mask helps. Wearing a mask doesn’t do a thing. Wearing a mask frightens bank tellers. The list goes on.

One fascinating study by two reputable researchers came to the conclusion that Canadians are drinking more at home and that labeling the SAQ as an “essential service” was not a good thing. Admittedly, alcohol abuse does cause many problems but for the vast majority of Canadians a quiet drink or two at the end of the day provides a certain solace.

By the way, the reason we are drinking more at home is probably because all the bars are closed.