We aren’t taking virus seriously enough

It’s time for Canada’s governments to get serious about the COVID-19 epidemic.

Up to now, Ottawa and most provinces haven’t been willing to bite the bullet in the fight against this virus. They have relied instead on half-measures and an appeal to the good will of Canadians.

If we are to avoid the fate of countries like Spain and Italy, that is no longer enough. The hammer has to come down.

It is easy to understand why governments initially preferred persuasion over diktat. Politically, honey goes down better than vinegar.

As well, the consensus among many experts was that coercive measures, such as border controls or mandatory quarantines, weren’t worthwhile.

The argument here was that strict enforcement was too costly and that it made more sense to spend scarce resources on other measures of infection control.

Which is true enough as long as the rate of infection doesn’t explode. But in this pandemic, the number of cases has accelerated dramatically — first in China, later in South Korea and most recently in Italy and Spain.

Of those four countries, China and South Korea, which moved quickly to institute draconian infection control measures, did best.

But this was not Canada’s strategy. At both the federal and provincial level, it relied instead on sweet reason.

Public health officials were trundled out to explain what was happening and to offer preferred remedies, most notably hand washing and so-called social distancing.

Initially, the federal Liberal government relied on the honour system to keep the borders safe. Travellers arriving by air were asked to report any COVID-19 symptoms to public health officials and to voluntarily isolate themselves from family and friends.

Ottawa chose not to invoke the wideranging federal Emergencies Act, arguing that as long as provinces used their own emergency powers such a move was not necessary.

Indeed, most provinces did act. But as Ontario’s experience demonstrates, there was often less to this action than met the eye.

This week, Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government ordered all non-essential workplaces in Ontario to shut down for at least two weeks. The move sounded dramatic. It was not — for the simple reason that the word “essential” is defined so broadly that the closure order exempts not just those that sell the necessities of life, such as food and medicine, but thousands of other businesses.

All manufacturing is deemed essential, as is all economic activity related to mining, forestry and agriculture.

All construction is considered essential and thus exempted from the closure order, as are businesses related to hunting and fishing.

Hardware stores are defined as essential. So are car dealerships and office supply stores.

Dry cleaners are deemed essential to the well-being of Ontarians and thus allowed to stay open. So are businesses that grow or sell cannabis.

Under the emergency provincial order, it is not legal to operate a shop that sells, say, shoes. But it is still legal to operate one that sells wine, liquor or beer.

As long as they sell products that can loosely be defined as food, all convenience stores are exempt from the closure order.

If the experience of Spain and Italy is any indication, none of this is nearly enough to slow the virus down. Governments, including Ontario’s, will need to do much more.

The federal government is finally beginning to face the reality that it cannot rely solely on Canadians’ better angels to see us through this crisis. This week, it reluctantly invoked the Quarantine Act to force those returning to the country to self-isolate for two weeks.

Is it willing to demand a comprehensive nation-wide shutdown to deal with the epidemic? Not yet, it seems. But matters are moving apace.