Seventh Covid wave is on us
La Presse says the seventh wave of Covid is here. I was struck this morning by how the CBC news reader introduced the story about the Luc Boileau presser planned at 9 am: her first, firm statement was that Boileau was not going to reinstitute any health mandates, as if that’s the most important thing – reassuring people they were not going to have to do anything even if the virus is resurging among us.
Likewise, the headline on TVA’s live stream of Boileau’s presser reads “Pas de retour du masque obligatoire ni de nouvelles mesures sanitaires”. Those “freedom convoy” folks have our authorities running scared.
I saw a tweet yesterday saying politicians are acting now as if the pandemic never happened. Even journalists are getting into it. Radio‑Canada has a piece Thursday morning about how Exo is cancelling some bus departures because of a shortage of drivers. There isn’t a word in the article about whether some drivers are off sick with Covid, but that’s bound to be a factor.
Chris 10:19 on 2022-07-07 Permalink
>not going to reinstitute any health mandates, as if that’s the most important thing
We must hang out in very different circles, because that *is* the most important thing for most people I know.
90% of us have taken the vaccines (and they work), and now life must go on.
>Those “freedom convoy” folks have our authorities running scared.
Be careful what you wish for. Would you rather more lockdowns or another president Trump and prime minister Poilievre?
Tim S. 11:12 on 2022-07-07 Permalink
Yesterday, a perfect mid-20s summer day, I passed by several restaurants and cafes which had very nice terraces, and yet everybody was sitting inside instead. If we want to avoid more severe restrictions I wish we would get better at the easy stuff.
Daniel 12:01 on 2022-07-07 Permalink
Chris, it’s probably clear to most readers of this blog that you and Kate would hang out in different circles.
Tim S., that is indeed dismaying. I doubt there’s the political will for more (any) restrictions, but, yes, it sure would be nice to chalk up some easy wins.
walkerp 12:47 on 2022-07-07 Permalink
Covid is now impacting all the things that the freedom posse and the short-term politicians that desperately want “normal” were trying to preserve by lifting all the mandates. Given that this is the warm weather period, I expect this fall/winter to have a much worse impact. Anybody who thinks we can just ignore covid and go along as we did before it came around is just stupid or willfully ignorant because of their facebook-brainwashed cult ideology.
I don’t know what the specific solutions will be, but government and private industry need to come together and start developing policies that will strike a balance between a functioning society/economy and health. This shit is not going away and it’s not going to solve itself.
MarcG 17:32 on 2022-07-07 Permalink
The lack of public education on how this thing works and why it’s important has been a massive failure.
Michael 20:34 on 2022-07-07 Permalink
From all the house parties and BBQs I go to, covid is not even a discussion at all. People simply don’t care nor do they want to care about it.
I visited an apartment for rent of an elderly person that was moving out and the elderly person said “don’t bother wearing a mask here, we got to move on with this”. That was that, everyone took their masks off.
Kevin 09:51 on 2022-07-09 Permalink
Living with Covid apparently means living with nothing working right but pretending everything is fine.
Kate 10:38 on 2022-07-09 Permalink
Yep. Health care, public transit, so many things right now aren’t operating properly because a significant part of the work force is sick. But official policy is that it’s on individuals to behave responsibly, because a small but vocal segment of society will get very loud very fast if any health mandates are put in place.