AUGUST 20, 2021 – I have had two vaccinations for Covid-19. I wear KN95 masks, even outside if there are crowds. I social distance and frequently wash the ol paws. I tend not to enter any place I can’t be out of in less than 15 minutes.
I can’t afford to catch Covid and like the majority, do the things I can to try and avoid catching it. It’s not about fear. It’s about not wanting to get sick or even worse, make someone else sick.
I had a dentist appointment in Ottawa (more about that later). It’d been a long time since I drove around Ottawa . Passing the Salvation Army building was something out of a casting call for a horror film.
Here we are in an election, with me in the Nation’s Capital, not a poor city, and seeing about a hundred people, unmasked, clearly suffering, many without shoes or shirts baking in the hot humid day.
In the Byward Market you had a surreal mix of homeless and tourists. Most weren’t wearing masks outside. Many were coughing. Far too many were oblivious to the human suffering and risks they were taking around them.
And anytime right now, with Delta, if you take your mask off you are at risk, even if you have been vaccinated.
I actually saw a poor homeless man lying against a building have his food container stolen by another man.
But what I saw mostly was a perfect situation for a virus that’s killed over 5,000,000 people World Wide in a City, Province, and Country that should know better.
Choosing politics over science is insane. This wave is self inflicted stupid. It’s about leaders that have failed to lead and this goes across the board to all parties. It’s shameful and has impacted our economy, our way of life, and our families. It’s caused further division in an already divisive world.
We could’ve done better. We need to do better.
It’s not complicated . We need to make sure our vaccination rates go up.
We need to make sure those that refuse to be vaccinated are not allowed to work in positions that expose them to people. It may be their choice to refuse a vax, but choices come with results and losing their access to employment and other areas of life should come with choosing to put themselves and others at peril.
We need people to mask up when indoors period. Anytime you take your mask off indoors or out you are at higher risk.
People simply need to follow science, which isn’t perfect, and do what they can so that we all can get through this.
And that also means finding solutions for our weakest links. A city like Ottawa should never have a scene like what I witnessed yesterday. Better solutions need to be found for those people in front of the Salvation Army and across the city.
jamie@cornwallfreenews.com