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COLUMN: Confusing lockdown rules open floodgates of confusion

Doug Ford's half measure has only served to cause chaos and uncertainty and stoke the fear and anger of people feeling the fatigue of the pandemic
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There’s no real playbook when it comes to managing a quickly-changing, deadly global health crisis.

You can be sure that when Doug Ford decided to run to become Ontario’s premier, he did not foresee a pandemic on the horizon.

Certainly, there is no playbook, no quick and easy fix and no magic bullet.

In the early months, when the global threat of the coronavirus began to reverberate in this province, Ford stepped up. He seemed to be listening to health authorities and worked tirelessly, hand-in-hand with the federal government, to attempt to tackle the ever-evolving crisis.

But as this pandemic has dragged on and dragged us down, many have begun to turn on Ford and blame him for the way the second wave has become a tsunami whose impact is far worse and more deadly than the first.

The common thread among the complaints is he has prioritized business over health and that decision has been fatal.

The straw that broke the camel’s back, however, is the provincial lockdown that he put in place on Boxing Day.

In short, it’s a mess.

You can’t simply walk into an OPP detachment these days; they're locked up. And the small retail stores and businesses that are the backbone of any economy are shuttered. They can only offer online sales or curbside pickup.

Yet, big-box stores and dollar stores are open. Sure, capacity has been restricted, but they remain open and you can line up to buy ‘essential’ goods like CDs, Pokemon cards and jewellery.

Ford also contracted the hours at these stores, which just means fewer hours open to the public, which means more people in these spaces during a shorter window of time.

It doesn’t make sense.

Meanwhile, you can’t take your pet to get groomed, but you can line up to buy booze and beer.

You can’t pay someone to come into your house to do renovations, but if a project was already started, it can continue.

You can walk into a bank to withdraw cash, but you can’t walk into a smaller downtown store and buy a pair of pants.

It’s a mess. Ford should have enacted a real lockdown - forcing big box stores to shut down all areas except grocery departments, for example - or continued with the status quo.

The half measure he chose will not accomplish the goal of flattening the curve and has only served to cause chaos and uncertainty and stoke the fear and anger of people feeling the fatigue of the pandemic.


 

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Dave Dawson

About the Author: Dave Dawson

Dave Dawson is community editor of OrilliaMatters.com
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