Horacio Arruda: Stay out of the west end
Horacio Arruda – do I need to define him as the Quebec director of public health? – says we should stay out of the west end, which is defined later in the item as Côte‑St‑Luc and Côte‑des‑Neiges, with the downtown area coming third in counts of COVID-19 cases.
However, the mayor of Hampstead gives us an even better reason to stay far away from his patch. Bill Steinberg says we shouldn’t believe the media, which he feels are exaggerating the seriousness of the pandemic.
It’s possible Montreal will see stricter measures of control in upcoming days. Dr. Arruda already asked people not to travel between regions of Quebec, so maybe we could be asked not to circulate to other neighbourhoods? Apparently this worked in South Korea.
david100 02:39 on 2020-03-27 Permalink
Trust me, from long experience, I can guarantee that nobody should travel to Hampstead or Côte‑St‑Luc, pandemic or not.
david100 02:43 on 2020-03-27 Permalink
I guess you can be arrested for walking down the street in most neighborhoods in this pandemic moment, but Hampstead and Côte‑St‑Luc pioneered that take-down technique way back. Best thing is that it wasn’t race-based, or anything – was totally based on a complicated decision matrix of (1) whether the neighbors knew you; (2) whether the cops knew you; and (3) whether you were a teenager, or some other such ruffian.
God help you if you were a teenager wandering through the hood, unknown both to locals and cops. There’s probably a town somewhere in Abitibi where they’re still trying to get home, after having been dropped off by our “cops.”
Kate 08:01 on 2020-03-27 Permalink
I used to have to cut through Hampstead when I walked to high school. Walked along Ellerdale until it turned into Fielding. Never had any issues, but then I was an innocent-looking little white girl.
Shoe drops: No, no, no, david100, you can’t be arrested for walking down the street. Police might break up any ad hoc gatherings, but (as noted in other recent comments here) even things like soccer and basketball games are still going on in some parks. But we’re allowed out. You can go buy groceries – cautiously.