BC is now in phase three of its provincial restart plan. It’s great that sectors of the economy that have been collecting dust open up, but the next few months of a slight increase in civilian and commercial spending won’t mean much if we need to shut down due to a second wave of COVID-19 in the fall. Hopefully, it might be enough to keep your local businesses just slightly in the black.
Statements of fact are hard to argue with. Here in BC, we’ve been at about 65 percent of normal levels of interaction since mid-May. 65 percent also happens to be roughly the threshold, according to modelling used by the BC government, for a rebound in new cases.
The trick is to remain just as diligent as we were in March and April, while being able to enjoy more activities that bring us meaning and fulfillment: throwing a Frisbee with a friend in the park, watching your kid smile as they swing on the monkey bars, finally free. Maybe it’s okay to not be afraid to touch those monkey bars or that Frisbee, or to go over to your family’s house for dinner and pet the dog. I intend to do these things, even go on the monkey bars, because there’s a good chance that many people won’t be diligent when they do, rendering us all unable to do it.
I recently saw a photo of a friend’s weekend camping trip. I counted 56 people in the photo. The entire family—and I mean entire— came along. Sure enough, the first comment on the photo was something along the lines of, “Uhhhh… looks like more than 50 people to me, haha!”
Gathering in large crowds is not recognizing that you are part of a larger community with needs and desires that extend beyond your own.
We’re all trying to adjust to the world here, and the last thing we need is war in the comments section. But when you leave those comment sections and get back out there, swinging on the monkey bars of life again, remember to play safe.