The global COVID-19 count recently reached 90 million cases worldwide. We’ve spent a lot of time staring at screens, looking at graphs, maps, and predictions. By the spring of 2020, lots of online jokes were centered around “explaining the pandemic to my past self.” It’s been long enough now that our past selves were in the same situation we’re in now. Ontario’s outbreak is the worst it’s ever been. There’s so much we don’t know—whether it be when you might be vaccinated, or how new variants of the virus will influence the situation.
As we continue to ride the second wave, nothing seems surprising anymore. Members of parliament took trips with their families while urging people to stay at home. This isn’t surprising. We’ve seen more clearly through this experience that politicians and other members of the upper class are completely comfortable forcing people into unsafe working conditions if it benefits the economy. It’s horrendous, thinking of a government official relaxing on the beach in the Caribbean, then looking back to the situation in long-term care homes. As of Sunday, January 10 at 10:30 a.m., there were 245 long-term care homes in the province with active COVID-19 outbreaks.
Around 40 percent of single parents have described their mental health as bad or very bad. Younger children are finding it difficult to partake in online school. We are all facing unique challenges as university students, whether it be parenting, an increase in screen time, or an increase in mental health issues.
Doug Ford has issued a stay home order starting Thursday, January 15 at 12:01 am, and the rules are confusing. They continue to allow for outdoor gatherings of up to five people, but forbid anyone from leaving their homes, except for “essential purposes, such as going to the grocery store or pharmacy; accessing health-care services; exercising; or doing essential work.” All “non-essential” businesses are being forced to close, with specific exemptions being given to big-box stores like Walmart or Costco. There’s no plan as to how to avoid large congestion of people at these establishments. Tickets and fines can be issued if people are found to be out and about for no justifiable reason. Ford remarks, “Bad actors who are caught, they will get fined.” But what constitutes a bad actor or a liar? The arbitrariness of this system gives way to serious inequity, anxiety, and discrepancies that will no doubt target the most vulnerable in our province. It’s pretty clear who the police will target most and assume dishonesty from. Basically, Ford has made it easier to police poor and racialized people while the virus continues to spread.
We’re not sure what will happen next, but it’s clear that this semester, too, will be starkly different from how many of us may have imagined it. Of course, we are frustrated. We had hoped things would be better, but they are worse than ever. All we can really say despite all of this is thank you to our readers for continuing to make The Strand part of your day. We’ll keep going for you, even if it’s only through the internet that we are able to publish and create as we have been doing.
We hope that you are finding the winter semester to be rewarding in some way, and we hope that as it continues there will be more opportunities for connections to be made. As the vaccine becomes more widely distributed and herd immunity to the virus is eventually achieved, there are hopes that those of you who will be returning to school next September will be able to go back to a partial normal. We hope this is the case and we will be watching the situation closely.
For now, The Strand team is wishing you good luck for this semester. Welcome to 2021! Pat yourself on the back for making it here with us.
Stay safe,
Ellen Grace and Hadiyyah
