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EDITORIAL: Behaviour of virus under a microscope

Relaxing measures now could be a good thing - or not
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The coronavirus has been wreaking havoc with our health and the economy. (Photo submitted)

Caution is the key word as the province moves toward relaxing restrictions from COVID-19.

When the virus first started to spread, it was easy to methodically shut things down and decide where the risks were the greatest.

Going the other way back toward some sense of normalcy isn’t so easy.

The phased-in approach being utilized by the provincial government is definitely the way to go. We have to take this one step at a time to ensure there isn’t another outbreak.

And that’s one of the problems with this virus. Even the experts don’t know enough about it yet to make definitive recommendations about what measures for gathering might work and which may cause more harm than good.

It’s been a troubling couple of months with so much damage done to the economy in such a short time. Repairing it is going to be a long and arduous process.

But we can’t forget we have to be wary of health concerns first and foremost, and hope to rebuild the financial ruin so many are experiencing later. This virus seems to be so nasty when it spreads in large populations and groups that we can’t take any chances.

If there’s another flare-up, it could be hard to continue down any path toward further reopenings.

The challenge moving forward, of course, is going to be how much can we do and not take a step backwards. It’ll kind of be like living in harmony with the virus, if you will, because it’s unlikely to completely be snuffed out any time soon as U.S. President Donald Trump believes.

The virus could be with us in some form for a long, long time to come so how can we avoid an acceleration of illnesses and still maintain a normal life?

We will be watching our neighbours to the south very closely to see what direction this situation can take. The Americans are going full bore into reopenings without hitting the flatter side of the curve so it’s a risky business, to be sure.

Our behaviour and the actual behaviour of the virus are under the microscope now before we can even begin to draw any conclusions with no precedence to fall back on.

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editor@sookenewsmirror.com

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