A few days ago I went on one of my near-daily walks down to Hume Park and saw some visual confirmation of something I’d read online, where the City of New Westminster is shifting tactics when it comes to physical distancing. This sign is now on the lacrosse box, which as you can see, is now padlocked:
“Lack of physical distancing” is pretty clearly saying, “You jerks kept tromping all over the place like there wasn’t a pandemic, so no more fun for you.” The second paragraph carries a veiled threat that parks and trails could be closed entirely.
I can’t say I’m surprised. I think there is a group of people who just don’t care or grasp the risk the virus carries, so they go about things as they normally would, aware that there is a pandemic because they always see it on the news, but indifferent to its effects and of taking precautions.
There is another group, too, one that has been drawing more attention to itself as lockdowns stretch on: the protesters who bristle against their “freedom” being curtailed by the enforcement of physical distancing, restaurant closures and the inability to get a haircut. Especially in the United States, where “rugged individualism” has morphed into a kind of scary self-parody, you see these people gathering outside government buildings, yelling and screaming about being able to do what they damn well want, when they want and more importantly, where they want (some of these protesters wear medical masks, which is curious). These people willfully ignore signs related to physical distancing, because they will not be oppressed. They will, of course, continue to endanger the health of others.
This is the world we live in.
Welcome to May, 2020.