Manitobans must refocus on fundamentals By: Editorial Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Friday, Aug. 21, 2020

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/08/2020 (1491 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

While most Manitobans take the threat of COVID-19 seriously, all it takes are a few who don’t to lead to another outbreak.

Since the arrival of the novel coronavirus in our province, we’ve adopted measures recommended by health authorities to reduce the chance of infecting others. Physical distancing. Frequent hand washing. Covering our coughs and sneezes. More recently, use of face masks.

Adhering to these practices, for most people, is at very worst an inconvenience. And yet a recent Angus Reid Institute survey of Canadians found that Manitoba had a higher-than-average percentage of people who don’t follow health guidelines. The national average of those who don’t is one in five people; in Manitoba, it’s one in three.

Why are so many of us unmindful of these basic, simple steps?

Perhaps it’s because when it comes to COVID-19, Manitoba has been lucky. The province moved quickly in March to introduce physical distancing measures, placing limits on social gatherings, businesses, schools and places of worship. Arts festivals and sporting events were cancelled. Testing and contact tracing were rolled out, and remain in place even as declining case numbers earlier in the summer justified a partial reopening of many activities.

But in addition to these prudent measures, we were just plain fortunate.

Though Winnipeg has an international airport, it isn’t a travel hub on the scale of Vancouver, Toronto or Montreal. When the federal government urged Canadians abroad to return home in March, those cities saw an influx of returning travellers, some of whom were carrying the coronavirus. Outbreaks in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec followed, and the battle to contain COVID-19 was very different in those provinces than in Manitoba.

Our early success in avoiding the worst of the pandemic may have contributed to false sense of security. But the attitudes of those who can’t be bothered to take basic precautions points to another possible factor: not taking other people’s safety seriously.

And that’s what most of the measures we have adopted are meant to do: prevent other people from contracting the coronavirus if we are the ones carrying it. Wearing a mask reduces a person’s chances of spreading aerosolized droplets containing the virus to other people. Physical distancing and avoiding enclosed spaces does, also. And sneezing or coughing into one’s elbow or otherwise safely covering it was always a good idea.

Our early success in avoiding the worst of the pandemic may have contributed to false sense of security. But the attitudes of those who can’t be bothered to take basic precautions points to another possible factor: not taking other people’s safety seriously.

Now, as the province has launched a new colour-coded pandemic alert system, one health region has had restrictions re-imposed thanks to a spike in COVID-19 cases. The upsurge is not necessarily a direct result of the flippant attitudes of those who disregard COVID-19 best practices — dubbed “cynical spreaders” in the Angus Reid survey — but if we are to limit the virus’s spread, public-health guidelines must be followed.

Chief public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin observed recently that Manitobans seem to be slipping when it comes practising the fundamentals that limit the spread of COVID-19, which might account for some new outbreaks. The Angus Reid survey supports that view.

We’re learning how to live with this virus, and we’re heading into flu season. Those who still aren’t taking the risks of COVID-19 seriously need to give their head a shake, and join everyone else in the new normal: one where we care about others’ health as much as our own.