Hooray! The pandemic's over! Sort of a rant really

The Quarantine Zone
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This isn’t only happening in Canada of course but on the same day there was this, from Halifax:

““I think it’s really important that companies do return to their office spaces because it’s how we work, it’s how we operate. And it would be a shame to see the great strides and great improvements that we’ve made over the last decade regress,” Baird Allen said.”

and this, from Montreal:

"The mayor of Montreal is calling on employers to encourage workers to return to their offices.

In a news conference Tuesday morning, Mayor Valerie Plante said a return to the office will help provide a boost to the downtown economy."

And then there are the schools which, depending on the jurisdiction, don’t require masks or distancing for the kids.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the pandemic is, in fact, not over. In fact, the only thing that actually is different right now is the body-count; that’s it. Otherwise, nothing’s fucking changed and this will cause societal long-term upheavals. And contrary to the merry, uplifting child-made signs in the windows, no - everything won’t be ok, despite the little rainbows.

And in North America at least, there are actually two battles going on (and more than two in the US). There is the battle against Covid, and the battle against deniers, thanks to whom this is going to continue for a very, very long time.

Beyond the rant there actually is no point to this post so I apologize in advance.

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I guess it won’t be over till the WHO says it’s over? Or till the Germans bomb Pearl Harbor?

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Or the Titanic runs aground at Lakehurst NJ and explodes?

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OMG, I thought Belushi looked oldish when I first saw this movie. Now I have children that age.

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In a sane world, you would be able to follow the recommendations of your city/state/federal leadership on what sort of restrictions needed to be in place for health reasons, and which could be relaxed, because they were actually basing it on health data, rather than sticking their fingers in their ears and wishing. Italy, for instance, has been gradually loosening a bunch of restrictions, but have kept ones that they think they need (eg mask-wearing) … based on what’s actually happening with cases and deaths. South Korea has had way fewer restrictions than Euro/Western countries since the beginning, and that’s okay - because they have very little illness and death. Clearly whatever they’re doing is appropriately tuned to the local conditions.

When you have reason to believe that the amount of covid-squashing measures in your local area are being driven off something other than health … that seems like cause for concern.

Allow people to do somewhat more risky things than they’ve been doing once cases start to go down, seems to me to be sensible. Push people to do more risky things does not.