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Mid-October Musing
Oct. 14th, 2020 10:01 amOur city and province both set a record for new COVID cases yesterday, and our government has decided to double-down on their strategy of ignoring it and doing nothing beyond a routine press conference where they remind us to "practise the fundamentals."
The vast majority of community spread at this point is happening in - wait for it - bars, restaurants and schools. When it was clear that our case counts in Winnipeg were exploding, the government enacted a mask mandate for all indoor places -- except that it's a mandate without teeth. They are counting on people to just be smart, and not crowd themselves together in bars and restaurants.
The numbers are clearly showing that people are not smart. It's just going to get worse as the colder weather that's coming starts to drive people indoors. We're bracing for the post-Thanksgiving spike from the "I'm not going to let a bit of a fever and cough deter me from crowding together with the extended family" crowd.
On the one hand our provincial government keeps wringing its hands and expressing concern over the rising numbers, wondering why people can't just practise the fundamentals of safety. On the other hand, they are actively telling people that bars and restaurants are perfectly safe, and that they need to get out and spend money.
What's especially frustrating about this is that early in the summer, we were down to a single active case of the disease, and had gone for nearly two weeks without a new incident at one point. The provinces on all sides of us were not doing nearly as well, so our government decided that they wanted to rush through the reopening and be the first in Canada to effectively remove all precautions. They quickly removed all travel restrictions within the country - including the self-quarantine period when returning from hotspots - and within a couple of weeks we started seeing outbreaks from people bringing it home with them and giving it to their friends and family.
At this point, the only reason we are not the worst province in the country is because Quebec is handling it even worse. I don't know what's going on in la belle province. Do they have some ritual, customary greeting that involves licking the insides of each others cheeks and huffing other peoples cough? They loudly maintain that they are a distinct culture, and part of that distinctness seems to make them particularly prone to catching this current SARS strain.
Anyway, the weather is slowly turning colder as we ease toward winter again, but it's still nice enough to get out for brisk walks and rides. I took this picture a couple of blocks south of our house where one of the streets had reached peak autumn. Most of the trees are bare now - with the notable exception of our lilacs, which usually follow the pattern of remaining green until well after the first snow. I don't know if their leaves actually change colour now that I think of it - they usually freeze and fall off without ever turning.
They have been slowly fixing up the park at the south end of our river walk. One of the things they added a year or so back is this stone meeting circle. Given the area where it resides, it is remarkably free of vandalism.
The vast majority of community spread at this point is happening in - wait for it - bars, restaurants and schools. When it was clear that our case counts in Winnipeg were exploding, the government enacted a mask mandate for all indoor places -- except that it's a mandate without teeth. They are counting on people to just be smart, and not crowd themselves together in bars and restaurants.
The numbers are clearly showing that people are not smart. It's just going to get worse as the colder weather that's coming starts to drive people indoors. We're bracing for the post-Thanksgiving spike from the "I'm not going to let a bit of a fever and cough deter me from crowding together with the extended family" crowd.
On the one hand our provincial government keeps wringing its hands and expressing concern over the rising numbers, wondering why people can't just practise the fundamentals of safety. On the other hand, they are actively telling people that bars and restaurants are perfectly safe, and that they need to get out and spend money.
What's especially frustrating about this is that early in the summer, we were down to a single active case of the disease, and had gone for nearly two weeks without a new incident at one point. The provinces on all sides of us were not doing nearly as well, so our government decided that they wanted to rush through the reopening and be the first in Canada to effectively remove all precautions. They quickly removed all travel restrictions within the country - including the self-quarantine period when returning from hotspots - and within a couple of weeks we started seeing outbreaks from people bringing it home with them and giving it to their friends and family.
At this point, the only reason we are not the worst province in the country is because Quebec is handling it even worse. I don't know what's going on in la belle province. Do they have some ritual, customary greeting that involves licking the insides of each others cheeks and huffing other peoples cough? They loudly maintain that they are a distinct culture, and part of that distinctness seems to make them particularly prone to catching this current SARS strain.
Anyway, the weather is slowly turning colder as we ease toward winter again, but it's still nice enough to get out for brisk walks and rides. I took this picture a couple of blocks south of our house where one of the streets had reached peak autumn. Most of the trees are bare now - with the notable exception of our lilacs, which usually follow the pattern of remaining green until well after the first snow. I don't know if their leaves actually change colour now that I think of it - they usually freeze and fall off without ever turning.
They have been slowly fixing up the park at the south end of our river walk. One of the things they added a year or so back is this stone meeting circle. Given the area where it resides, it is remarkably free of vandalism.
