The other side of reopening

In the mad rush south of the border to reopen their economy, COVID-19 has made a dramatic comeback:

NEW: Due to the rising spread of #COVID19, CA is ordering bars to close in Fresno, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, San Joaquin, and Tulare, while recommending they close in Contra Costa, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, & Ventura.

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 28, 2020

There are lessons to be learned here. One of which is that COVID-19 doesn’t care about your intentions. It will exploit any gaps you can give it. Which means as we reopen our economy here in Ontario and Canada at large we have to remain even more aware of the presence of this disease.

Robyn Doolittle at The Globe and Mail had a terrific article detailing how Canada’s Public Health agencies bungled the initial response to COVID-19. I highly suggest you read it. The main take away though, is that we are not using the summer to prepare for an inevitable second wave.

Complacency seems to be policy now. Expediency over prudent actions seems to be the plans of the day. The fact remains though, COVID-19 still exists and is still a very real and present danger to us all:

Coronavirus: Global COVID-19 deaths surpass half a million in grim milestone https://t.co/gMQYMN80br

— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 29, 2020

Habits need to change. More than just face masks in public. If business is needed to reopen, then social distancing needs to be enforced, not just politely requested. We’re going to have to step up our game.

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