The "dance" is the long period of slowing reopening, while managing covid-19. (Image bySergei Tokmakov from Pixabay)
The world has started to reopen, in fits and starts. Some countries, like Sweden, never entirely closed. Others, like Spain, were so tightly locked down that children were not allowed outside. That changed this week. Kids got out to play for an hour in Spain and in some countries they even took tentative steps back to school. Most Canadian provinces have released a plan for reopening and British Columbia has promised one next week.
An online article called The Hammer and The Dance by Tomas Pueyo describes “the hammer” as the strict measures to get the virus under control and “the dance” as the long period afterwards, when the measures can be relaxed, but not eliminated, to keep the virus contained. We’re poised and ready, but still plotting our dance routine.
B.C. has 2,112 covid-19 cases, 111 people have died and 82 people are in the hospital. There are 679 active cases and we’ve tested 86,030 people or 14,489 per million. Canada now has 53,657 cases and has had 3,223 deaths.
Meanwhile, we’re watching the rest of the world, and hoping for either a cure or a vaccine. It’s May 1, so we are now into our third month of staying home.
Here are the milestones I noted this week:
- An experimental antiviral drug called remdesivir might be showing promise.
- The Canadian House of Commons met virtually for the first time ever.
- The United States passed one million cases of covid-19 this week. Thirty million American people have filed for unemployment benefits.
- The federal government brought in rent relief for small businesses, but it’s quite complicated. It will help businesses who have lost at least 70 per cent of their revenue due to COVID-19, but the landlord has to agree and kick in 25 per cent.
- There is a lot of talk about “contact tracing” software that people could install on their phones. But a loss of privacy is a big concern.
- The Canada Emergency Response Benefit has received 7.1 million applications
- The province of B.C. said it would provide alternative shelter for about 1,000 homeless people who were living in three tent cities in Vancouver and Victoria. The people will be housed in hotels in the short term, to allow physical distancing, but the province says longer term housing will be found.
- The Webster Journalism Awards will still happen in 2020, but there won’t be an in-person gala.
- The Vancouver International Airport announced layoffs.
- Vancouver City Council voted to end free parking on Vancouver streets.
- In B.C., outbreaks at two poultry plants and a federal correctional institution in Mission were mostly responsible for the numbers of new cases. Two additional poultry processing plants had single cases this week.
- At least eight meat processing plants across Canada have been affected by Covid-19, including the Cargill plant in Alberta where hundreds of cases began, causing fears over meat supply. In the United States, President Donald Trump ordered meat plants to stay open.
- Many people have stiff backs and necks from working at makeshift desks in sub-par chairs, but massage therapists won’t be back at work until at least June. I predict big wait lists.
- The Vancouver School Board held its first virtual meeting.
- Reports out of England question whether an inflammatory illness being seen in children is related to covid-19. Covid toes is another bizarre symptom of this disease, mostly found in children.
- The Tokyo Olympics, which were to have taken place this July, were postponed to July 2021 weeks ago, but now Japan is questioning whether they will have to be cancelled.
By this time next week, B.C. should have our dance card filled out with a plan for reopening. For now we will remain wallflowers.
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