Thursday’s initial Corona stories
The quickly rising numbers of COVID‑19 cases in Quebec have alarmed many, but experts say the hike only occurred because of a surge in testing that caught up with the cases already in existence.
A new drive-thru clinic is going to be opened at Cavendish Mall. Côte St-Luc has turned out to be something of a hotspot in town, so there are good reasons for this.
Grocery stores have been unable to cope with the sharp rise in demand for delivery. While CTV has general advice on how to shop safely, La Presse reports how a recently returned snowbird was barred from two grocery stores in Lac St‑Jean.
The Gazette, which has taken this moment to radically redesign its website, is doing its usual thing: a piece entitled “While you were sleeping: New day, same locked-down life” subheaded “We’ll be doing this for weeks”. When did the Gazette decide its leading tone should be passive-aggressively pissed off? It’s been like this for a long time. (I’m going to write something soon about what the various Montreal media do well and what they don’t – I started writing it here, then recalled this is meant to be a post about COVID‑19 …)
QMI is raising an eyebrow at the Legault government’s view that making cigarettes is an essential service. The official line is that they want to circumvent an influx of illegal cigarettes, but I suspect Legault & cie also feel it would be bad politics to shut down indulgences at a time like this, thus keeping the SAQ and SQDC open and the cigarette factories rolling.
CTV also covered the question of the safety of going for a walk, which we touched on here on Wednesday. The tl;dr here is that yes, you can walk, but don’t go too far from home, and keep your distance.
Meezly 10:39 on 2020-03-26 Permalink
Wha…? I was thinking this would be a great time for smokers to quit their disgusting habit, esp. now that they’re home-bound, not exercising and their tar-coated lungs are more vulnerable to the ravaging effects of Covid-19.
Since people are smoking at home more often, there are more cigarette butts littering my street. You’d think smokers would use ashtrays or empty cans, but no, they merely toss their butts onto the sidewalk.
Blork 10:40 on 2020-03-26 Permalink
Well I wish some of the goddamn runners would reel it in a bit. It’s one thing to cross paths with someone who’s out for a stroll, but it’s another thing to be standing at an intersection waiting for your light when a runner sidles up next to you and runs in place right next to you for 30 seconds or a minute all while breathing very heavily.
Worse is the old runner who passed me yesterday at a snail’s pace, barely faster than my walking gait. He came up from behind and shuffled past mere inches off my elbow, while wheezing heavily with very phlegmmy sounding lungs. FFS!
Blork 10:41 on 2020-03-26 Permalink
Regarding smoking, it should be noted that quitting smoking can be really hard for many people, and darn near impossible during stressful times.
Meezly 11:31 on 2020-03-26 Permalink
True. But it shouldn’t prevent them from cultivating civil smoking habits. Cities are laying off municipal employees during this crisis, so smokers shouldn’t assume that sidewalks are being cleaned.
DeWolf 12:01 on 2020-03-26 Permalink
I haven’t seen much information about going out for a bike ride. I assume that if it’s fine to go for a walk around the neighbourhood, the same applies for riding a bike? That’s what I plan to do tomorrow, after several days of not leaving the house, because it’s a lot easier to keep a physical distance from others on a bike than on the sidewalk.
Alison Cummins 12:03 on 2020-03-26 Permalink
Cigarettes are a common way for people to manage their mental health, and for confined people to mark time. Smoking used to be actively encouraged in wartime, in prisons and on psychiatric wards.
There might be better ways — SSRIs offer a better cost/benefit profile than cigarettes for anxiety — but there are a bunch of people out there who would rather smoke than take pills or do yoga, and I’m not sure the medical system wants to take on a surge of smoking-cessation counselling at this exact moment.
John B 12:07 on 2020-03-26 Permalink
CBC had an article on going out for exercise the other day. They try to manufacture some controversy, (between Trudeau’s “Go home and stay home” and the top doctors in each province saying it’s fine to go out for exercise), but it comes down to yeah, it’s fine to go out & exercise, (including biking), if you maintain the 2 metre distance. On a bike I’d try to keep some extra space, since you’re moving faster you could quickly end up in someone else’s snot cloud if a cyclist 2m in front of you sneezes or coughs.
I went for a bike ride yesterday. The downtown streets are nearly empty. I rode Sherbrooke from Westmount to Papineau, and came back on René-Levesque. As a cyclist this is your chance to ride streets you never would during normal times, (and I bet there will be fewer cyclists there than on the bike paths).
For smoking, I can’t imagine someone trying to go through withdrawl right now. It’s not the time to cut access to cigarettes, (same for alcohol & pot).
Clément 12:54 on 2020-03-26 Permalink
@Blork, here is what it looks like as a runner:
Well I wish some of the goddamn
runnersstrollers would reel it in a bit. It’s one thing to cross paths with someone who’s out for astrolljog, but it’s another thing to be standing at an intersection waiting for your light when arunnerstroller sidles up next to you andrunsstands in place right next to you for 30 seconds or a minute all whilebreathingcoughing very heavily.Worse is the
old runnergroup of strollers whopassedblocked me yesterdayat a snail’s pacewalking four abreast, barelyfaster than my walking gaitmoving aside to let me pass safely… FFS!Tee Owe 13:16 on 2020-03-26 Permalink
Blork, Clément – gotta add my own 2 cents worth here – where I live (not Montreal) the situation is just the same . I run at 7 in the morning to avoid all this hassle. So I come to a red light at a busy intersection and I’m waiting and a cyclist ‘sidles’ up beside me, and leans across me then asks me to push the pedestrian walk button – he’s like, in my face. Sigh (and I’m not touching that button)
Douglas 13:30 on 2020-03-26 Permalink
The US banned alcohol during prohibition and the lessons learned from that is that its just not worth it.
People will continue to consume it by all means necessary. And illegal if need be.
Patrick 13:43 on 2020-03-26 Permalink
Talking about “essential services,” here in the US gun shops are said to qualify…
Blork 14:01 on 2020-03-26 Permalink
@Clément, @Tee Owe, I get your point, but my point is that a huffing-and-puffing runner is making more of a cloud of potential viruses than a stroller, so it is MORE important for the RUNNERS to pro-actively create distance. In the two cases I mention in my example, it was the runners who came wheezing into the stroller’s space. IF YOU ARE BREATHING HEAVILY FROM EXERTION YOU SHOULD BE EXTRA CAREFUL AND GIVE PEOPLE FOUR METRES!
jeather 16:14 on 2020-03-26 Permalink
Runners should not come up to strollers who are already at a crosswalk, waiting, but also vice versa.
mare 18:40 on 2020-03-26 Permalink
Everybody should just start wearing a mask when outside. Not for your own protection necessarily, but to potentially prevent shedding the virus everywhere. It has helped elsewhere, will help here too.
Some research papers on the subject:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HLrm0pqBN_5bdyysOeoOBX4pt4oFDBhsC_jpblXpNtQ/mobilebasic
Clément 19:29 on 2020-03-26 Permalink
@Tee Owe: Quebec City?
I live in Quebec City and the only way to get a pedestrian crossing light is to actually press the button, otherwise, it’s all cars, all the time. It’s annoying at best of times, but now it’s actually dangerous. Worst is that the button don’t work if you wear gloves, you have to actually remove your gloves for the buttons to work!
Jaywalking it is for me!
Dhomas 07:11 on 2020-03-27 Permalink
I was in Quebec city over spring break, staying in Vieux Québec. All the pedestrian crossing “buttons” I used were contactless. You would need to wave your fingers under the device to activate it. I’m guessing that’s not in place everywhere yet.
Clément 13:26 on 2020-03-27 Permalink
@Dhomas: The so-called contactless buttons often require that you get your hand really close to activate them and for some reason, they are less sensitive in winter, so you have to get even closer. And, as I’ve said, wearing gloves doesn’t seem to work.
Alison Cummins 14:11 on 2020-03-27 Permalink
We’re at the QdS drive-thru clinic right now. According to the website we both qualify for testing — returned from overseas after March 2, one of us has symptoms, we live together — but they changed the criteria. They won’t test the non-symptomatic one because the results would be inconclusive.