Dear Editor,

The expression “May you live in interesting times” may or may not have originated in China. Regardless, we must by now appreciate the irony of those words. The COVID pandemic surely qualifies as ‘interesting’.

Looking at the latest news from Manitoba, for example, we see the aisles in Walmart with toys and Christmas decorations now closed off, out of bounds to shoppers. This is their government’s response to a sharply rising infection rate. It’s sort of like being adrift in a lifeboat on the ocean, with no drinking water. There it is, but we can’t use it. How did we arrive at this?

So who do we blame? The response of governments both federal and provincial has been . . .

erratic to say the least. They were too slow to act, failing to properly screen returning travelers and reluctant to close our borders. They gave mixed messages. Masks were at the start considered of dubious value. Now they are mandatory. Many countries have done better than Canada, especially in East Asia. Luckily we can point to the chaotic situation in the U.S. and claim a certain superiority.

But really, the onus falls mainly on us private citizens, not our governments. We have heard it said many times, “we are all in this together” but we haven’t listened all that well. We still see people entering places of business without masks, the regulations notwithstanding. We still see people wearing masks covering barely their chins, either unaware or uncaring that the act of exhaling by its nature poses a risk. Too often we hear of large gatherings where caution has been abandoned. Countries that have done well in controlling COVID have had much more compliant populations. And let’s not even mention the continued protests against any enforced masking. It almost seems like a farce. This isn’t ‘just a flu’.

We  have been very lucky here in the Pontiac. There hasn’t been an outbreak. We have a smaller and more scattered population than in the cities. But consider Nunavut. A smaller and very remote population and now they have an epidemic. All it takes is one infected individual to start the spread.

This isn’t the time to panic. Maybe it would be better to stop watching the nightly news. It just can make it harder to sleep. It isn’t the time to close everything down. Humans are social animals. But it is the time to be super careful. Life is good but we can’t afford to become complacent. A vaccine will arrive. Let’s all work together to make it through until that time arrives. Yes, the times ahead, the next few months, will be interesting indeed. We’re still learning.

William Smith  

Bristol, Que.