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reopening

Wednesday September 30, 2020

October 7, 2020 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday September 30, 2020

It’s time to consider shutting down casinos, theatres and malls, leading health expert says

As COVID-19 cases continue to pile up, a leading health expert says the Ontario government should consider shutting down casinos, movie theatres and shopping malls. Industry defenders, meanwhile, say closures would be unnecessary and unfair.

July 17, 2020

“Closing them completely should be a last resort. But I think we need to consider everything right now. How surgical can we afford to be?” said Dr. Abdu Sharkawy, an infectious disease specialist with the University Health Network.

Tuesday, Ontario had 554 new COVID-19 cases, down from a record-setting 700 the day before. But Sharkawy warns we haven’t come close to the peak of the second wave.

“I have no doubt that we’ll be seeing a thousand cases per day within the next two to three weeks,” said Sharkawy, who was surprised to see some Ontario casinos reopen on Monday for the first time since March. Casinos had been allowed to open since the province hit Stage 3 in mid-July, but casino operators had been negotiating unsuccessfully with the province to boost a 50-customer cap.

June 17, 2020

Those casinos are all managed by Great Canadian Gaming Co., which runs 11 casinos in Ontario, including at Woodbine and Mohawk.

Shutting casinos down wouldn’t be fair to the industry’s 17,000 workers in Ontario, said Paul Burns, president and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association, the casino industry’s national trade association.

A spokesperson for the provincial ministry of health said the government is still monitoring the COVID situation across Ontario, and could implement further restrictions.

“The government, in consultation with public health experts, continues to review trends from a range of criteria on an ongoing basis to determine if public health measures need to be adjusted or tightened,” said Anna Miller. 

Allowing just 50 customers into a casino that’s designed for thousands isn’t a money-maker, said Burns. Not that it’s being done for charitable purposes, he admitted.

“They wanted to demonstrate to public health officials that they could open and operate in a safe manner. It’s not economically viable at 50 people,” said Burns. Eventually, Burns said the casino industry would like to see more gamblers coming through the doors. (The Hamilton Spectator) 

 

 

Posted in: Ontario Tagged: 2020-32, casino, Coronavirus, covid-19, Doug Ford, Gambling, OLG, Ontario, pandemic, reopening, seniors

Saturday August 29, 2020

September 5, 2020 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday August 29, 2020

Fear around hugging, touching could be long-term consequence of COVID-19 pandemic, psychologists say

Janna Wiebe woke with a start recently, after dreaming her young son was surrounded by school friends who weren’t observing physical distancing.

July 25, 2020

She calls it a nightmare.

Wiebe’s family in Gretna — a southern Manitoba town about 100 kilometres from Winnipeg — have been practising the recommended distancing from others for the last month. They’ve gotten used to only being close to each other.

She thinks the public health directives and orders have gotten into her head.

“All I have wanted since this pandemic has started is for my son to be able to go back to kindergarten — to go back to school and finish his first year of school properly,” she said.

April 30, 2020

“Now I’m having a nightmare that he is going to school, and that’s obviously something deep down in my subconscious that finds that thought nerve-racking.”

Even Wiebe’s partner had a bad dream about a person being hugged by someone they didn’t know.

The Wiebes aren’t the only ones who are wary of touching others or getting too close. Psychology experts say the lingering effects of public health orders could have an impact on mental health long after those orders are lifted, and could increase phobias and obsessive reactions in those who already have anxiety problems.

Life in a Pandemic

That’s because fear-related learning is persistent, he says. For example, if a person has a bad experience getting stuck in an elevator, that might trigger a lifelong fear of elevators — a fear that’s maintained by avoiding them altogether.

The same could be true of the pandemic, says Bolster.

“This pandemic will end, and the threat of contracting this disease from casual social contact will diminish drastically,” he said.

“But to the extent that people avoid social contact that’s now not only benign, but necessary to feel emotionally and personally connected with others, they will likely pay a price in emotional health and social adjustment.” (CBC) 

 

Posted in: Canada, Ontario Tagged: 2020-28, anxiety, back to school, Canada, Coronavirus, covid-19, diver, Ontario, pandemic, Pandemic Times, panic, paranoia, reopening, scuba

Thursday August 27, 2020

September 3, 2020 by Graeme MacKay

August 27, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday August 27, 2020

Doug Ford praises appointment of ‘amazing’ Chrystia Freeland as federal finance minister

“Amazing.”

“Incredible.”

November 21, 2019

Those were just two of the adjectives the Progressive Conservative premier of Ontario used to hail the new federal Liberal finance minister.

“I absolutely love Chrystia Freeland. She’s amazing. I’ll have her back, I’ll help her any way we can,” an elated Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday.

As first revealed by the Star’s Susan Delacourt in April, the COVID-19 pandemic has forged a close friendship between Ford and the deputy prime minister.

The premier was visibly delighted that Freeland, who represents University-Rosedale in the House of Commons, is succeeding departing Toronto Centre MP Bill Morneau as federal treasurer.

December 11, 2019

“I want to congratulate my good friend Chrystia Freeland. An amazing person. I actually texted her this morning to say congratulations. I don’t know how she’s going to do it. She’s working around the clock now,” Ford told CityNews’s Jamie Tumelty in Scarborough.

“There’s no one that would be better in that role than Chrystia Freeland,” he said, pointedly declining to comment on the WE Charity scandal that triggered Morneau’s resignation.

“I’m not going to get into that federal politics. That’s up to the prime minister to deal with. We’ve been working very collaboratively together.”

The premier predicted Freeland would be a good partner for Queen’s Park, which is seeking additional federal funding for infrastructure projects.

“If there was one person, I have confidence in, it is Chrystia Freeland. She’s going to do an incredible job,” said Ford. (Toronto Star) 

March 27, 2020

Now this just in: With less than two weeks to go before most schools are set to welcome back students for the fall term, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today announced more than $2 billion in funding to help provinces and territories re-open their schools and economies safely.

The announcement comes as some provinces are reporting increases in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases.

The funding is meant to allow provinces and territories to work with local school boards to implement measures to protect students and staff from COVID-19. The money can be used to help adapt learning spaces, improve air ventilation, increase hand sanitation and hygiene and buy extra personal protective equipment (PPE) and cleaning supplies. (CBC) 

Posted in: Canada, Ontario Tagged: 2020-28, back to school, Canada, Chrystia Freeland, Coronavirus, covid-19, Doug Ford, education, Justin Trudeau, money, Ontario, pandemic, reopening, schools, Stephen Lecce, trenches, unicorn, war

Friday May 22, 2020

May 29, 2020 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday May 22, 2020

We can’t give in to ‘quarantine fatigue’

If you’re driving in the dark down a rough, mountain road, you’d be wise to ease your foot off the accelerator.

May 6, 2020

Your limited vision, not knowing what’s around the corner and the risk of making a fatal wrong turn will be enough to convince you the best way forward is to go slow.

And that should be the motto for every Canadian as the country begins to emerge from the prison of its two-month, COVID-19 lockdown.

Go slow.

It won’t be easy. This is the third day since Ontario allowed stores, parks, campgrounds, golf courses, marinas and construction sites to reopen. Prince Edward Island is preparing to welcome its returning summer residents. In many parts of Quebec, children are back learning in their elementary schools while limited outdoor gatherings are legal again.

April 30, 2020

We can already taste some of the freedoms we took for granted, but have been denied since mid-March. And we yearn for more.

We’re tired of staying alone in our homes and apart when we’re out. We can’t wait to return to our favourite coffee shop or hug an old friend. As for those of us rendered jobless by COVID-19, the day we can get back to work and start paying our bills again can’t come soon enough.

Besides all this, the heartening progress that’s been made — including the flattening of the curve in new COVID-19 cases — will make a lot of us think we’ve got this battle won. That conclusion is grossly premature.

April 25, 2020

According to Dr. Theresa Tam, the nation’s chief public health officer, we’re experiencing “quarantine fatigue.” But we have to resist it, limit our expectations and keep taking all the safety precautions that once seemed extraordinary but are now simply ordinary.

April 14, 2020

“This is quite a difficult period … one of the most difficult periods of time where people have been observing this public health advice,” Dr. Tam said Thursday. “And now, some things are easing up, and there is this exuberance of maybe getting out there. (It) means that people may forget to do all the core public health measures.”

Canadians can’t let this happen. We have to realize it’s not an accident that this country is managing to wrestle the pandemic to the mat. This positive turn of events has been made possible only because of the patience and self-sacrifice demonstrated by the vast majority of Canadians. 

Thanks to their efforts, Canada has avoided the devastation wreaked by COVID-19 in countries such as the United States, where 95,000 people have died from it, or the United Kingdom and Italy. COVID-19 has killed more than 35,000 in both places.

Living in a Pandemic

Of course, it’s been horrible in Canada. The death toll hit 6,145 Thursday and there are still hundreds of people suffering from COVID-19 in hospital intensive care units. But we have averted the worst-cases scenarios in which federal government scientists warned 350,000 Canadians could perish from COVID-19.

So now we have to walk toward the new normal before we run for it. Lack of discipline could result in a devastating second wave of COVID-19 that would force another lockdown and make two months of unprecedented effort seem wasted.

We need to keep abreast with what’s been reopened and what’s still off limits. If we’re not already wearing a face-mask when we can’t physical distance, we should start. We need to keep washing our hands until they’re red, and veering off sidewalks to stay two metres from another pedestrian.

And we shouldn’t need a flashing, yellow light to persuade us to go slow. (Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Posted in: Canada, International, USA Tagged: 2020-18, Canada, Coronavirus, covid-19, neighborhood, neighbourhood, Ontario, pandemic, Pandemic Times, regulations, reopening, rules, work

Wednesday May 6, 2020

May 13, 2020 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday May 6, 2020

Science vs Politics; Lives vs Livelihoods

This accursed pandemic has brought us a range of new expressions. Flattening the curve. Social distancing — or physical distancing if you prefer. Self isolation. Stay home, stay safe. 

And then there’s this one. Lives over livelihoods. 

Living in a Pandemic

Where, exactly, this originated in the COVID-19 context, we do not know. But it’s one of the better descriptors and we can expect to hear a lot more of it now that most jurisdictions are beginning to talk and act on reopening society and the economy. It works either way, too. Livelihoods over lives.

That’s the philosophy driving decision-making in jurisdictions where reopening the economy and relaxing pandemic societal rules are judged more important than minimizing the human toll of the virus. This would include the many states in the U.S. where governments are rushing to normalize life and working. In many of these states, they haven’t yet begun the flatten the curve. They still report many new cases and new deaths every day. 

And yet the governors in those states, with full and urgent support from the Trump administration, are moving faster and faster to throw their economies wide open. Hair salons, tattoo parlours, beaches, restaurants — you name it.

Health and medical voices in America are warning of dire consequences. The most respected disease projections in that country now predict that previous death estimates will double, largely become of reduced distancing, more openness and increased mobility. By the end of May, the models say, daily reported cases will double. Up until recently, these models were regularly cited by the Trump White House as being gold standard. Now they are inaccurate, the president has decided. 

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie is a loathesome character by any reasonable definition. But at least he is honest about America’s frenzied reopening. He says yes, more people will die, but that’s the price of renewed economic prosperity, and Americans just need to get used to it. Livelihoods over lives rules the day in Donald Trump’s America.

Thankfully, not so here in Canada and Ontario. Our political leaders still adhere to the lives over livelihoods mantra. But it’s getting increasingly difficult, as you can see by the growing agitation among people of a certain political stripe to get back to business. Not every Canadian who needs the emergency benefit (CERB) has received it yet, but already Andrew Scheer wants to talk about cutting it back so as not to be a “disincentive” to get people back to work. 

You can certainly see the stress on Ontario Premier Doug Ford. This week, he is once again holding out optimism for some normalcy over the Victoria Day weekend. Just a week or so ago he did the same thing and then had to walk back his optimism because it wasn’t supported by health data.

Anyone with empathy has to feel for Ford. He’s a business-first politician in an environment that won’t allow him to be business-first. He desperately wants to hold out a light at the end of the tunnel, but he has to be careful. If he overpromises again, his credibility takes a hit. If he presides over a government that moves too quickly, he knows he will wear the increased fatality counts, just like Quebec Premier Francois Legault will if his overly-aggressive approach to reopening backfires (he has already had to delay his reopening by two weeks).

But Ford, like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, is unwavering. He will not put the economy first at the expense of more dead people. Trudeau and Ford will not put livelihoods ahead of lives. Even though not doing so will cost more money and inflict more economic devastation. We don’t know about you, but we’re happy to be governed by people with their priorities in the right order. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial)

 

Posted in: International Tagged: 2020-16, carrot, Coronavirus, covid-19, Economy, guinea pig, masks, pandemic, Pandemic Times, petri dish, reopening
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