Signs of Life

I keep checking the COVID 19 Assessment Centre at Women's College Hospital for signs of activity. For weeks, I saw none. 

But, across the street, a massive dandelion patch sprang up. So, instead of counting COVID patients, I watched countless bees drill the brilliant flower tops. 

Then, all of a sudden, urged on by a Premier frustrated by low numbers - and who was promptly contradicted by public health gatekeepers frustrated by the Premier's impulsive outbursts - people started lining up for tests. 

Women's College Hospital, two days after the Premier told people to just go to an assessment centre even if they don't have symptoms, and after a medical officer of health said "you should wait to see if you have symptoms."

This dazzling example of Ford's all thumbs on deck approach to pandemic management came on the heels of an estimated 10,000 people - predictably in the 18 to 35 age group - cramming themselves into Trinity Bellwoods Park. 

Bruce and I walked by Trinity Bellwoods around 4 o'clock in the afternoon that day and noted then that it seemed crowded, so we kept going. 

Even outdoors I don't want to share air with that many people, but the comparative safety of outside got me thinking about expanding my social circle to a number greater than one. So I've arranged some socially-distanced visits this weekend.

Early enough for the birds to still be singing, we're joining some friends on Saturday for a stroll along Bayview Avenue, which is closed to cars this weekend so cramped, lonely self-isolators can stretch their legs and enjoy shouted conversations. 

By the time the birds have stopped singing, we'll be picnicking at Eglinton Park, six feet away from other friends, not sharing our food and limiting our liquid intake because public washrooms are still not all open.

And on Sunday, I'll join a former colleague from the Energy ministry for a cup of coffee out of doors. Using rapidly evolving COVID etiquette, he asked me if I minded that he would not be wearing a mask. As much fun as it would be to see him try to drink his coffee with one, I said I didn't mind.

Thanks for reading!

Stay safe! Go outside!

Karen

Another sign ... gas prices 
up twenty cents a litre

Bunch of Yahoos

In the US, ordinary government-distrusting anti-vaxxers are being recruited by armed extremists to participate in rallies protesting government actions to control the spread of COVID-19.

In Ontario, ordinary government-distrusting anti-vaxxers are being recruited to participate in rallies, too. 

Bring the kids! Protesters being interviewed at Queen's Park, Saturday May 16 2020.

Another protester, another interview. Saturday May 16 2020.

I saw these people on my afternoon walk on Saturday. I stopped and, keeping my distance, talked to one of them, a fifty-something white guy wearing mirrored sunglasses. I asked him who organized the protest.

He pointed to a man standing by the John A. MacDonald statue. That guy had reached out to different groups to come together at Queen's Park to make a statement. Or statements. The size of the crowd was the point.

The man I talked to told me he was a construction worker from Collingwood. He disagreed with the government response to the virus. He thought the early estimates of how many deaths would come from COVID were "junk science" used to excuse authoritarian government action. Just because a lot of people died from the 1918 pandemic is no reason to believe that the same will happen now. We know more, he said, and people can be trusted to make their own decisions about what's risky and what's not. The government's emergency powers should be used only when there is a war on. And so on.

I noticed there weren't a lot of people wearing masks or social distancing at the rally, so I asked him if he was worried that he would be exposed to the virus and take it back to Collingwood and the people he cared about there.

He didn't think so. Besides, he said, he didn't have anyone back home to expose.

I'm not surprised.

Knock on Your Door

Last week's tiny peek into the pandemic turned out to be just the start of COVID making itself manifest at my door. Like the first time, there was food involved.

On Monday night after dinner, there was a knock on our basement door, the one that opens to the subterranean corridor that connects all the condo units. It was one of our neighbours, bearing COVID baking: sugar cookies and cinnamon buns, more calories than two men over sixty could safely burn on their own. We said we could help them out. That's what neighbours are for.

On Tuesday night, just before dinner, there was a knock on our front door. Someone had left several bags of groceries on our front step and then scrammed so fast I couldn't see anyone when I looked up and down the street. We hadn't ordered groceries. There was no receipt or transaction record, but one of the bags said "Cornershop." 

While Bruce brought the food indoors, I e-mailed all the condo neighbours to see if the order was theirs. I also called the two most likely to get their groceries this way. But no one had ordered groceries. So I got online and, after some frustrating fails on their unintuitive web site, connected with Cornershop customer support. I sent them a message with my address and the approximate time of the delivery, saying I had groceries that belonged to someone else.

I got a response almost right away reassuring me someone was on it.

I was glad they were looking into it, but because we didn't know how long this was going to take, Bruce put all the meat - bacon, pork chops and chicken breasts - in the fridge and all the frozen food - 2 kg of peeled raw shrimp and a box of Haagen Das ice cream bars - in the freezer.

There was also a 10 kg bag of white rice, four litres of milk, 18 eggs, two tubs of rice pudding, five avocados, a bag of mini round Tostitos, one banana, a box of ant traps, a spray bottle of bathroom cleaner and ... Paw Patrol bubble bath.

It was strange having someone else's groceries in my house. I worried about what I would do with them if the owner didn't show up. We don't have ants, or a bathtub. And Bruce dislikes avocados.

A few minutes after hearing from Cornershop, I went to the kitchen to start supper. Through the kitchen window I saw a young man on the sidewalk in front of our door, searching for something and frowning.

I figured I knew who he was, so I opened the door and called to him. He motioned to me that he was deaf. He didn't seem to think I knew why he was there. He tapped out an explanation on his phone and held it up for me to read.

He was from #2-284 Sherbourne Street. One property north of us. I fished his food out of our fridge and freezer, and loaded him up with his groceries. 

After he was gone, I sounded the all clear to my neighbours. 

I also suggested avoiding Cornershop. They rely too heavily on the kindness of strangers.

Thanks for reading!

Keep your distance!

Karen

An Obvious Metaphor

Look Ma, no trains: Union Station, 4:20 p.m. Friday May 15

Donald Trump is a virus.

Trump's a foreign body that attached itself to a cell, the office of the President. And, from the moment he moved in, he began to replicate his DNA inside the cell, both literally (his children) and figuratively (his sycophants). 

The virus has spread from the cell to the rest of the host, the United States of America. The host's viral load seems to be holding steady at around 42%.

The host's underlying conditions made it more susceptible to the virus. At the moment of exposure in 2016, the host was already suffering from political polarization, income inequality, systemic racism and assault weapons in the hands of civilians. These underlying conditions have impaired the host's ability to fight the virus... which doesn't bode well for the 2020 election.

***

Meanwhile, closer to home, our days stay unvaried. I read the news about what's going on, but the pandemic seems remote and abstract.  

But that changed just a tiny bit last night. 

We ordered supper from North of Brooklyn, a terrific local pizzeria. In pre-pandemic times, they were so busy delivery took two hours. These days, they could offer "half hour or it's free" and never worry about having to pay. 

Last night, less than half an hour after I ordered on-line, there was a knock on our door. The bike delivery guy was about 5'8", slim and wearing a pretty swish cycling helmet. I said to him as he pulled our pizza and salad out of his padded delivery box, "wow, you guys are really fast these days" and he said "they just brought me on to the team. I was in fine dining. I have to work." 

Poor bugger.

Thanks for reading!

Happy Victoria Day!

Karen

No Longer a "New" Normal

Street art at Sherbourne & Wellesley: Milhouse as the 2020 mascot

I am now social distancing in my dreams, which means, I think, that I have become accustomed to the pandemic response. 

I also find I no longer yearn for a return to normalcy. The way we live now, as far as I am concerned, is normal. 

For example, previously non-ironic signs and advertisements are no longer ironic:

Wild rides are for investments. Says The Economist: "Between February 19th and March 23rd, the S&P 500 index lost a third of its value. With barely a pause it has since rocketed, recovering more than half its loss."

The slogan on this man's jacket, on display as he obediently waits in line to shop for groceries in Rosedale, is just the first line of "My Way".

And Alexia Von Beck won't be nominated for "Best Timed Business Closure."

Still, the University of Toronto may want to ask a different rhetorical question for its fundraising campaign "Boundless".

It is ironic that the City of Toronto closed High Park to keep people from viewing the cherry blossoms, while the University of Toronto left its little grove open for everyone to enjoy.

All of the above aside, when the time comes that governments allow people to go back to their service industry jobs, I will eagerly line up for a haircut, and to buy some Aveda products, and for a drink with friends on an outdoor patio. 

But I will miss the comparative quiet, the empty streets and the sense of moral purpose in avoiding crowds, which I did before it was heroic.

Thanks for reading!

Expand your bubble safely!

Karen

Brickworks 
cobra chicken

Just Before the Second Wave Hits

A tree falls in Queen's Park and there's no one there to hear it.

I used my spare time this week to mull over the policy response to the pandemic. Here's where I've gotten to on that.

I can't say I did not see COVID-19, or something like it, coming. Experts have warned about pandemic threats for years.

What I did not see coming was what governments and the public would do in response to the virus. I say this as someone who, for her entire public service career, worked on measures to protect public health from the environmental impacts of pollution.

Air pollution kills about 9,500 Ontarians a year. Since January 2020, COVID-19 has killed about 1,200. If current numbers prevail (but they won't, thankfully) COVID-19 might kill almost as many people in a year as air pollution. 

COVID-19 has killed about a quarter of a million people globally, which is the number of people conservatively estimated to die every year due to climate change.

In theory, human lives are at stake whether you are talking about pandemics or pollution. But, when I used public-health-based arguments as a rationale for government action on air pollution or climate change, the response was always, "whatever we do, we can't hurt the economy." 

Conditioned as I am to trade off one thing (human health) for another (jobs and prosperity) I am utterly stunned that to save lives this time, governments have slammed the lid down on the economy and thrown millions out of work.  

Imagine a government saying about climate change: "We can solve this problem. All we have to do is shrink the global economy by 10% over a three month period and then deal with the fallout, whatever that may be, after that."


Still Not A Member of the Doug Ford Fan Club

A lot has been written recently about Ontario's Premier, Doug Ford, who has shown even he can't screw everything up all the time. He's been praised because he listens to his expert advisors (though he got rid of about 14% of them over the past year) and because he shows compassion for those suffering (but ignored the risk to care home residents for more than a month) and because he can muster a genuine response to the yobs protesting social distancing on the lawn of the legislature (good for him). 

It is true that crises bring out the best in people, but, once the crisis has passed, everyone settles back to their own less-than-best selves. 

For the government, the lingering effects of the lock down are going to create as many, if not more, policy challenges as the virus. But by then, Doug Ford will have gone back to being the guy with no ideas except to cut taxes, deregulate and downsize government. 

He should enjoy his positive press while he can.

More Previously Non-Ironic Signs and Advertisements

Richmond Street: would have been perfect if the beer were a Corona.

Richmond Street: ad copy writers should avoid this phrase for the next few years.

College Street: when did yogurt become a "fix"? 

Spadina Ave: the fine print on the door says:
"A great place to start. A better place to finish."

Thanks for reading!

Order some take out!

Karen