Vigilance still important during era of COVID

By Lethbridge Herald Opinion on February 19, 2021.

COVID-19 is not gone, and with only 12,000 vaccinated in the South Zone, we are a long way from “normal.”

It is easy to grow complacent now that some personal services and restaurants have been allowed to re-open for in house dining to think the pandemic has somehow lost its grip. Perhaps it is some form of pandemic fatigue which has set in that there appears to be many people in the city willing to pack into local pubs and attend house parties this past weekend, if anecdotal reports are true.

Yes, the ongoing public health restrictions are onerous and frustrating at times, but the alternative is a return to lockdown and escalating cases within the city once again – leading again to a loss of livelihoods, and perhaps lives.

The government of Alberta tried the personal responsibility thing last fall, a strategy which failed miserably.

One wonders when or if Alberta Health Services is ever finally going to get serious in the South Zone, and begin cracking down on businesses and individuals which given an inch, take a yard.

If we don’t start getting it into our heads that there is a proper balance to be struck, including limits on how many people should be in the pub at any given time and absolutely no house parties or private gatherings, then we are going to be like hamsters stuck on a perpetual wheel going absolutely nowhere.

We will continue yo-yoing back and forth over the next year between short periods of “open for business” followed by much longer periods of “closed until further notice due to provincial public health orders.”

This pandemic is frustrating on many levels. We all want our old lives back when none of us had ever heard of COVID-19.

There is hope on the horizon in the form of vaccines and we may one day be able to turn the page on this episode in 21st century history, but we aren’t there yet.

We have to continue to follow public health restrictions, which includes limitations on numbers and proper spacing in local businesses, wearing masks, and maintaining proper social distance.

It is onerous. It is frustrating. But it is what we have.

One day in the not so distant future life will return to some semblance of normal, but until that day we must all continue to do our part to protect ourselves and others from this dangerous and highly communicable disease.

Comments are closed.