social distancing

Saturday September 12, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday September 12, 2020

How will Covid-19 affect Christmas 2020?

October 29, 2019

Premier Doug Ford says that the thought of children heading out trick or treating next month amid a global pandemic makes him “nervous” but he is cautioning residents that a lot can still change between now and Halloween.

Speaking with reporters during his daily COVID-19 briefing on Thursday, Ford said that it is too early to make a decision about what will be done about Halloween in Ontario but he conceded that the idea of trick or treating does worry him.

“Let’s play it by ear and see what happens over the next month-and-a-half but it makes me nervous, kids going door-to-door with this. I would prefer not to,” he said. (CTV) 

Meanwhile, with the coronavirus pandemic having already led to so many of 2020’s planned events and celebrations being shelved, there’s now concern that it could also ruin Christmas, amid fresh restrictions being imposed on gatherings in England.

August 6, 2020

New rules banning gatherings of more than six people are set to come into force from September 14, with Chris Whitty warning that the rules won’t be changing in the next few weeks – which could potentially impact those festive family get-togethers and parties.

Although Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said he ‘hopes’ they can turn things around before Christmas, Dr Hilary Jones has warned that this year’s festive season will ‘not happen unless we change what we are doing’. 

So could Christmas really be cancelled courtesy of Covid this year – and just how much of an impact will the virus have on the festivities?

Like most of the other festivals which have taken place in the shadow of the pandemic – including Ramadan, Eid and Passover – Christmas will of course happen on December 25 this year as usual.

And while Covid might not stop you from putting up your tree, tucking into your turkey dinner, watching those festive movies or listening to Merry Christmas Everybody on a never-ending loop, there are other aspects of the festive season which will almost certainly feel the impact. 

Here’s what a Covid-19 Christmas might look like this year.

December 18, 2019

Festive celebrations in December are as big a part of Christmas as the big day itself – but these are likely to be under threat this year unless the rules on gatherings of more than six people are lifted before the festive season rolls around.

Have pantomimes been cancelled? Oh yes they have. Theatres across the UK have shelved plans for their usual festive pantos this year.

What about a trip to Santa’s grotto? Well that might be off the cards too – Harrods have said on their website, for example, that their traditional grotto won’t be happening this year (but that they will be announcing Covid-safe festive plans very soon)

December 18, 2018

That doesn’t mean grottos are off the cards completely – even if your little ones have to keep their distance and Santa has to don a face mask.

Dr Atkinson explained: ‘Santa’s Grotto will be a socially distanced affair. So sitting on Santa’s lap isn’t likely, because it is likely to put children, but moreover Santa, at increased risk of transmission.

The day itself dawns, and you’re normally looking forward to a big family gathering with everybody round the table for lunch before curling up in front of festive telly. But with gatherings restricted to six people – and the possibility that could extend beyond Christmas – could that trip to see the folks be out this year?

2021 may seem like a long way off still, but no sooner is Christmas done and dusted than New Year celebrations come along – but we can expect them to be a bit more muted than usual this year. (Metro UK) 

Friday July 24, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday July 24, 2020

Is the WE Charity affair Justin Trudeau’s sponsorship scandal?

With each new revelation in the rapidly snowballing scandal surrounding Ottawa’s aborted plan to contract out a multimillion-dollar student volunteer program to WE Charity, it gets harder to know whether to be more outraged, disgusted or flabbergasted – or some measure of all three.

July 9, 2020

Outraged that, in the middle of a pandemic that has left millions of Canadians out of work and Ottawa digging a deficit hole for the ages, our federal government somehow thought it urgent and appropriate to spend nearly $1-billion on a program that appeared to serve no one’s interest more than its own and those of the organization chosen to run it.

Disgusted that, as average Canadians struggle to set aside a few dollars every month to donate to their local church or food bank, the federal government would reward a charity that defiles the notion of do-gooding by offering “complimentary” trips across the globe to their rich donor friends in high places, absorbing funds that might otherwise have gone to actually doing good rather than just generating good PR.

December 14, 2016

Flabbergasted that, after already twice being entangled in ethics investigations due to his own disregard for the basic rules of conduct, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau finds himself at the centre of yet another such inquiry owing to what can only be described as his own hubris and gall for having the nerve to think that no one would notice.

We knew before this scandal erupted that Mr. Trudeau and WE Charity had for years formed a sort of mutual-admiration society. No other major political leader has appeared at more WE Day events or been greeted with more ebullient praise by the organization’s co-founders, Craig and Marc Kielburger. It had become hard to distinguish between WE Charity’s stated goal of “inspiring a generation of leaders and change-makers” and the blatant politics and campaign-style atmosphere that such forums provided Mr. Trudeau.

July 11, 2020

We learned a bit more about the incestuousness of this relationship when Mr. Trudeau’s wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, tested positive for COVID-19 shortly after participating in a WE Day event in London alongside Formula One superstar Lewis Hamilton and actor Idris Elba. A picture posted on her Instagram account shows the trio with their arms around each other, along with Ms. Grégoire Trudeau’s mother-in-law, Margaret Trudeau, and sister-in-law Alicia Kemper. WE Days had become a family affair for the Trudeau clan.

September 22, 2017

We have since learned that Margaret Trudeau was paid more than $300,000 to speak at several WE Day events, which, no matter how much you admire her, should strike you as unsettling. Ms. Trudeau may be her own person, but nothing she does now can be considered separate from her son’s political career. That can be a double-edged sword for Mr. Trudeau, but not in the context of a WE Day event.

Now it appears that much of the apparatus of government jumped through hoops between April and June to drum up a program, the Canada Student Service Grant (CSSG), that – go figure – not a single federal department or agency or private-sector organization had the wherewithal to administer. None, that is, except for WE Charity, which just happens to have been facing financial disaster as the pandemic dragged on.

April 8, 2004

The closer you look, the more this situation resembles the sponsorship scandal of the late 1990s that tarnished the Liberal brand for more than a decade until Mr. Trudeau revived it.

The sponsorship program, concocted by then-prime minister Jean Chrétien’s government, involved doling out bogus contracts to Liberal-friendly advertising companies under the auspices of promoting federalism after the 1995 Quebec referendum. Then-auditor-general Sheila Fraser concluded that Ottawa “broke just about every rule in the book” in awarding such contracts, which lined the pockets of Liberal donors.

February 9, 2005

That scandal, which eventually spawned a public inquiry, led to criminal charges. And though there is no evidence of criminal activity in the awarding of the CSSG contract to WE Charity, there is a certain similarity in the absence of checks and balances in the procedures followed in outsourcing the grant program. The proposal appeared to sail through cabinet. If any ministers raised red flags about the appearance of conflicts of interest or lack of due diligence regarding WE Charity, we have yet to hear about it.

The sponsorship scandal started off small. The entire program did not involve large sums of money, given the overall size of the government. The program was peripheral to Ottawa’s primary missions, which made it seem kind of innocuous at first.

The WE Charity scandal is starting to look eerily similar. It’s an afterthought in the context of the current crisis Canada faces – yet it’s too rotten-smelling to ignore. (Konrad Yakabuski – The Globe & Mail)



 

Tuesday May 26, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday May 26, 2020

There will be ‘lessons learned’ from situation at Trinity Bellwoods Park, Toronto mayor says

Toronto Mayor John Tory says there will be “lessons learned” from the incident that unfolded on Saturday at Trinity Bellwoods Park, where he says “out of control” crowds gathered to party and enjoy the sunshine.

May 9, 2020

Toronto police estimated that as many as 10,000 people were at the downtown park on Saturday afternoon, where many gathered in large groups and drank alcohol as police and bylaw officers looked on.

Police Chief Mark Saunders said Sunday that while several tickets were issued to people who urinated and defecated in the driveways and backyards of nearby homes, very few tickets were issued to the large swath of people ignoring physical distancing laws.

Mayor John Tory, who visited the park on Saturday night to educate those not following the rules, also came under fire after a photo surfaced of him wearing a mask incorrectly while standing too close to a group at the park.

“Lessons will be learned, including by me, and we will move forward and hopefully do better,” Tory said during an interview with CP24 on Monday morning.

While many have been critical of the Toronto Police Service’s response to the situation, the mayor said officers have a difficult “balancing act” when it comes to enforcement.

“There is criticism, you’ve heard it, long and loud… about excessive ticketing and excessive law enforcement and the heavy hand of the authorities in the circumstances versus a more laissez faire kind of approach,” Tory said.

He noted that had police and bylaw officers known this type of crowd would gather there on Saturday, they likely would have provided more resources to the area.

May 6, 2020

“People are saying it was all predictable. I think a crowded park at Trinity Bellwoods is predictable on a nice, sunny day. This is a massive crowd the likes I have never seen and the quantity of alcohol that was there was extraordinary,” he said.

“But you do get to a point where as that crowd pours in with no fences around the perimeter of the park… it becomes a very difficult task for them to enforce the law in a safe manner.”

Tory added that the city is looking at various solutions to prevent this type of crowding in the future.

“In some parks… they draw big circles on the ground that sort of say that if you are going to have a group of people that are going to be properly social distanced, then you have to sit in these circles,” Tory said.

“The problem becomes how do you enforce that when you put limits on every park? We have 1,500 parks in Toronto…. There has to be a degree of personal responsibility.”

Living in a Pandemic

The mayor was quick to point out that the situation at Trinity Bellwoods Park this weekend is not indicative of what went on across the city.

“There were parks that had lots of people in them, spaced out properly, and it wasn’t a problem. There was a particular problem at this one park,” he said.

“It is the nature of that neighbourhood in terms of the highrises and what not. And we are going to have to take another look at that, hopefully without restricting the ability of people being able to use that wonderful park because those people don’t have a backyard in many cases.”

Tory said that he would self-monitor for symptoms of COVID-19, advice Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen de Villa has recommended. However, Tory added that he would not get tested for the virus noting that there is a documented incubation period to develop symptoms and testing too early could result in a false negative.  (CTV) 

 

Thursday May 14, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday May 14, 2020

‘Social bubbles’ allow you to see friends as coronavirus lockdowns ease — but they might not work

As more countries look to lift their coronavirus lockdowns, “social bubbles” have been floated as an idea of how to ease restrictions, but experts say they could be difficult to put into practice.  

Marvellous Maps

A social bubble entails allowing people to form a group with a select number of people they are allowed to see socially outside their own household. 

They have been put forward as a way to continue containing the spread of Covid-19, which has infected more than 3.6 million people worldwide and killed over 257,000, according to the latest figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University. 

New Zealand — which has been heralded as an example for bringing its coronavirus cases down to zero — has already implemented social bubbles. It lifted certain lockdown restrictions last week and allowed people to expand their bubbles to contact with close family outside their own households. 

April 18 2020

Meanwhile, Belgium is reportedly considering allowing people to socialize with a group of up to 10 people. It currently allows people to meet up with two others outside their household, so long they are outside and keep a distance from each other.

William Hanage, associate professor of epidemiology at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said social bubbles were “certainly a component of how, once the initial outbreak is under control, measures could be refined.” 

However, he added that “as the size of the cluster grows, the probability that one of its members could become infected obviously increases.”

Mike Tildesley, an associate professor who specializes in infectious disease control at the University of Warwick, said that while “in principle, it’s a really sensible strategy,” practically it would be difficult to implement. 

He also said that narrowing down a list of friends — and ensuring that those friends also have the same list — sounded like a “social nightmare.” 

“You could envisage this situation where you name a group of friends, they name a group of friends that includes you, but it has some people that aren’t included on your list and all you’ve got is some sort of porous process that (the coronavirus) filters through the population more slowly that it did before,” Tildesley added. (CNBC) 

 

Saturday May 9, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday May 9, 2020

Ontario to reopen some retail stores within days, moving with ‘cautious optimism’ amid COVID-19

Ontario will relax some of its coronavirus restrictions in the days ahead, moving with “cautious optimism” to allow garden centres, nurseries, hardware stores and safety supply stores to reopen so long as they adhere to the same public health measures currently in place at grocery stores, Premier Doug Ford says.

The public will be allowed to shop in these stores as long as physical distancing, contact-less payment and sanitization measures are in place, Ford said at his daily briefing Wednesday.

Select retailers can reopen according to this schedule:

• Friday: Nurseries and garden centres 

• Saturday: Hardware stores and safety supply stores

• Monday: Retail stores with street entrances will be permitted to reopen for curbside pickup.

The province will also expand what counts as essential construction with work allowed on condominiums and apartments, Ford said.

June 26, 2009

“We have seen in other jurisdictions that moving too fast, ignoring the advice given on this virus and even giving it an inch can set us back,” Ford said. “So we will move cautiously.”

Asked about when restaurants might reopen, Ford said his hope is that they can do so “sooner than later,” but provided no benchmark on how low Ontario’s daily new case count would have to go before that happens. 

Although the government is allowing some businesses to reopen, the province is not yet technically in the first stage of its reopening framework, and on Wednesday extended its emergency orders until May 19.

Life in a Pandemic

Stage one of the reopening framework would allow workplaces that can modify operations to open their doors, the opening of parks, allowing for more people at certain events such as funerals, and having hospitals resume some non-urgent surgeries.

But before all that can happen, the chief medical officer of health is looking for a consistent, two-to-four week decrease in the number of new cases. So far, the province is in day four of a downward slope. (CBC)