When I was a child, waaaay back in the 1980s, I remember sitting in a car with parents of a friend who weren’t wearing seatbelts. It struck me as odd, but in those days it wasn’t uncommon.
I also remember my mom threatening, over and over again, that she would stop the car if my younger brother didn’t put on his lap belt (were there even child seats back then?) This resulted in some long drives to the store.
Today, only the most careless parent wouldn’t strap their young child into a five-point harness before engaging the car. Most people put on their seatbelts without even thinking about it. I put it on just to back my car out of the garage.
There are a lot of parallels to the precautions we’re taking today when it comes to the spread of covid-19 – the most obvious being the wearing of masks. They’re behavioural changes, and they take time, something we don’t have a lot of when it comes to a virus.
We’re all at varying degrees of covid compliance. It’s like being a vegetarian or a vegan, my co-worker observed. Some of us are 100% all-in when it comes to reducing the spread of the virus: we’re staying at home as much as possible, we’re reducing our social circles, we’re wearing masks. Others are taking more risks: we go out to eat, we venture into stores, we meet with friends and extended family. We might even visit the occasional night club (shudder).
Inevitably, the more lax we get, the worse things become. One has only to look at rising numbers in the U.S. and our own country to see how unforgiving the virus is when a more laissez-faire approach is taken.
North Dakota, separated from Canada by an invisible border (and no, I’m not advocating for a wall... yet), is now averaging 1,300 cases and 13 deaths per day. With a population of about 750,000, that's concerning.
If Western Canada had the same numbers per capita, we'd have over 20,000 cases per day (8,500 in B.C. alone!) Plus over 200 deaths a day, just in Western Canada.
While we’re not doing great, we’re doing better. We went into lockdown early on, giving us an understanding of what it takes to reduce the spread. North Dakota failed to take that initial step, and thanks only to geography, was largely spared the virus until now.
This isn’t to say that an initial lockdown would have saved them entirely. France and England are into their second lockdowns, as are some cities across Canada. It’s easy to revert back to our normal ways, particularly when governments are so timid to enforce behavioural change.
China takes mandatory action to a new level, using an iron fist to ensure compliance. Any outbreak is quashed by authorities with swift and immediate lockdowns, virtually eliminating the virus in the country where it started. It’s a testament to authoritarian rule during a national crisis.
Don’t get me wrong, authoritarian rule, as Trudeau would say, sucks. I’d much rather have a choice. But then again, do we really have a choice to not put on a seatbelt? The fine is enough reason to wear one. Maybe it should be the same regarding masks in public spaces? Or, for that matter, operating a nightclub during a pandemic? Though not a panacea, it would be a step in the right direction. Better by far than another lockdown.
The other day I got a kick out of how fast a teenage girl flipped a mask on as she entered a friend’s vehicle. It was with such sleight of hand, I couldn’t even tell where it came from.
Most kids are so used to wearing them now, they do it without even thinking. Like putting on a seatbelt. Automatic.
