Bars, hotbeds for Covid?
More than a dozen bar customers have recently tested positive with Covid. An Irish pub in the West Island has announced an infected employee and closed to sanitize and other bars have also fessed up.
Jonathan Montpetit examines the situation and asks whether politicians have “jeopardized the return of children to classrooms this fall by seeking to salvage a nightlife in the summer.”
walkerp 10:27 on 2020-07-14 Permalink
I didn’t know about the #schoolsbeforebars but will be blasting it all over the place from now on. If they fuck up the schools because of their stupid desperation to open the economy, I am taking pitchfork and torches to Quebec City.
Ian 12:26 on 2020-07-14 Permalink
I haven’t been to any bars yet and do have school age children, but I don’t see the connection… bars and schools tend to be kind of different demographics.
One of my former students works at that McK, but cegeps will all be online until winter term anyhow.
Perhaps I am being obtuse but unless the author is thinking primary age kids are going to bars, I don’t see the connection.
walkerp 12:37 on 2020-07-14 Permalink
Ian, the connection is that the best way for schools to open is to ensure that we have eliminated community spread. Opening bars does the opposite of that.
Ian 13:27 on 2020-07-14 Permalink
Of course opening bars & restaurants contributes to community spread, but the community is not homogeneous or evenly distributed. Demographically I don’t see how the “family with schoolkids” population is going to come in much contact with the “young people at the bars until 3 am” crowd – at least to the extent that somehow opening bars and opening schools can be perceived as a zero sum game. Honestly I think having people return to offices is a way higher risk to school openings.
Kate 15:15 on 2020-07-14 Permalink
Ian, I think it’s simply a question that if we open up nightife, Covid numbers will rise, and it will look more risky to open schools. It’s not about direct contact between the demographic groups.
Bert 16:01 on 2020-07-14 Permalink
Perhaps there is something about reasoning with bar patrons that may be like reasoning a 7 year old?
jeather 16:30 on 2020-07-14 Permalink
No parents go to bars; no parents have coworkers who go to bars; no parents live in multigenerational households with siblings or roommates who go to bars; no teachers or other school employees go to bars; no teachers or other school employees live with people who go to bars; no teachers or other school employees live with people who have coworkers who go to bars. None of them go to the same restaurants or pharmacies or grocery stores.
MarcG 17:01 on 2020-07-14 Permalink
Parents with young children often act like they’re the only people on earth, maybe they are?
Ian 21:02 on 2020-07-14 Permalink
I’m super happy you all got a chance to flex but let’s be real here, the going back to offices thing has way more crossover. Making out like either we can have bars or schools is a real stretch by comparison.
jeather 21:29 on 2020-07-14 Permalink
People aren’t drunk in an office, they can more effectively distance, and many people are still WFH. We can’t have everything — bars and restaurants and gyms and schools and malls — and we need to prioritise. If we try to open everything back up we’ll end up having to close it all back down again.
Ian 21:34 on 2020-07-14 Permalink
I hear you, and I agree with you – but I find the bars vs schools dichotomy weird given all the other parallels that could have been made. In any case it’s pretty obviously that everything opened back up too quick and we need to dial it back so that essentials can be maintained. Granted, to those that own bars and restaurants those are essentials, and that supply chain represents a lot of work in Montreal, but we need to choose our battles a little more diligently than the Provincial Government seems to have in mind.
Dhomas 05:20 on 2020-07-15 Permalink
Sorry, @MarcG, as a father of 3, you don’t exist to me, so I’ve ignored your comment. :p
MarcG 10:01 on 2020-07-16 Permalink
@Dhomas: Sorry I’m just seeing your comment now a few days later because I had to walk a giant D-tour around your massive, inconsiderate family.
MarcG 10:08 on 2020-07-16 Permalink
Here’s a smiley in case it’s not obvious 🙂 and a note to say that I hate large groups of sidewalk hoggers whether or not they’re related to each other.