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Editorial: COVID fight not being won by fistfights

Bad behaviour not beneficial to getting the community through this
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This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, yellow, emerging from the surface of cells, blue/pink, cultured in the lab. Also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus causes COVID-19. (Photo by the Canadian Press/AP-NIAID-RML via AP)

We’re starting to hear (and see) far too many instances of bad behaviour since the pandemic has reached a more critical stage in B.C. during the last month.

This will be our undoing in the recovery process if it continues. And then we’ll be looking at nothing more than a prolonged lock down to bring the case numbers of COVID-19 down, something no one wants because the economy has already taken a huge hit.

But the delicate balance we’re currently trying to establish to keep employment going and limit the number of infections is not working too well yet because far too many people have their own agendas and don’t care about anyone else.

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Sure, it’s hard. No one said it was going to be easy to readily give things up, but if we don’t restrict activities more closely now, the situation is going to become a whole lot worse later. This virus doesn’t care if humans want to act like a bunch of idiots and pass it along exponentially.

The mask issue has taken the situation to a whole new level. It’s not comfortable for everyone, but if the rules are followed and we all learn to get along and respect each other, we can emerge from this crisis in better shape.

Developments with a vaccine by several companies sound promising, but it’s only the first stage. The distribution of vaccines, once approved, could take several months and it might be well into 2021 before we can realistically abandon the infection fears without a remedy available.

In the meantime, incidents like the one of a man beating on a disabled person working at Walmart in Dawson Creek because he was told about the requirement to wear a mask are sheer lunacy. The fact no one jumped in quickly to pull back the man as he wailed away is also disturbing.

There are squabbles daily on public transit between mask wearers and those against using them. No one likes this, but we have to start doing the things that are going to prevent the COVID numbers from climbing.

And fighting with each other on a bus or Skytrain isn’t the way to do it.

We might have to send the bad kids into the corner for an extended time out until they learn to control themselves.

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Don Bodger

About the Author: Don Bodger

I've been a part of the newspaper industry since 1980 when I began on a part-time basis covering sports for the Ladysmith-Chemainus Chronicle.
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