As the days of the COVID-19 pandemic drag on, governments all over the world are unveiling plans to open the economy while keeping everyone safe. Here in Ontario, the provincial government has just extended the state of emergency until early June just as retail stores with street fronts are being told they can start to do business at the curbside. It’s a bit confusing because people are desperate for things to be loosened yet no one wants a second spike in this dreadful virus.
Against this backdrop, we are being asked to use common sense to figure our way through the whole dilemma of self-distancing while we re-engage enough to do things like go back to work, see our families, or open our business or agency to suppliers, customers, and clients. This raises many questions for me. What exactly is common sense and whose common sense are we going to rely on to be successful.
Let’s think about the controversy surrounding city folks invading cottage country for the May long weekend. Given that cottagers own property, pay local taxes, and spend a lot of money on goods and services shouldn’t they be allowed to visit freely? The big fear seems to be that limited healthcare resources in cottage country will be overwhelmed by city people who might get sick while at their cottages. A secondary fear is that cottagers will gobble up all the supplies in local grocery stores and locals will go without. My common sense suggests a response to both worries. Cottagers are likely to bring the supplies they need for their short stay and, if they get sick, they will rush back to the city to seek healthcare in much better-resourced city hospitals.
So then, why all the fuss? Because in a fragile eco-system like this, a few bad actors can ruin it for everyone. I recently learned from a friend who lives in a cottage country town about a few “rich city kids” (identifiable because of the luxury car they were driving) who went into a small local grocery with the intention of clearing the shelves – just for fun. This story went viral in the community and tarnished all cottagers as it spread. In normal times, the common sense of local residents would have damped the story down to the unique example of bad behaviour that it was. But there is nothing normal about the current situation and anxiety is running at an all–time high. Is common sense enough in such times? I guess we will see over the next few months…
